Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Year On Ladybug Farm-Donna Ball

A Year On Ladybug Farm
Donna Ball
Berkley, Mar 2009, $14.00
ISBN: 9780425225875

Though widows Cici Burke, Lindsay Wright, and Bridget Tyndale have each other while living a gentle middle class suburban lifestyle, each feels their lives are unfilled now that their kids have moved out and their husbands are gone. The trio decides they need something different so they buy a rundown mansion in rustic Shenandoah Valley with plans to renovate and grandiose dreams centered on an art school and a winery with lush gardens. They are greeted on their dilapidated newly purchased estate by a zillion lady bugs, liberated livestock and hints of a comedic ghost

The amigas move to their new home dubbed the Ladybug Farm shocking their adult offspring with the decision. However, fixing up the house and estate proves daunting as nothing goes right. Over time each begins to have doubts about their decision to uproot their lives from comfort to disaster, but the trio sticks it out through thick and thin as they begin to learn how to live life again as empty nesters.

This is an engaging tale of three best buddies who elected seven presidents and got involved in numerous causes coming together after the last spouse dies to find a new personalized mission now that the adult children are spread around the country. Their efforts make Murphy comparatively speaking into an optimist as nothing goes right yet everything goes right as long as friends are there for one another. Readers will enjoy the three musketeer-ettes as they provide humor, pathos, and logic to one calamity after another.

Harriet Klausner

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