Category Archives: Medlicott, Joan

by | April 2, 2012 · 1:41 pm

Joan Medlicott. At Home in Covington. New York: Atria Books, 2004.

A year after the fire that destroyed their 19th-century farmhouse, the Ladies of Covington have rebuilt and moved on. But wood, plumbing, and tiles aren’t the only things that have changed in their lives: Hannah, Amelia, and Grace each face difficult decisions and shifts in their relationships with those they care about most.

Hannah’s daughter Laura is heavily pregnant and worried about how this first child will change her career-focused life. Hannah herself receives a piece of mail that causes her to relive her unhappy past; because of it she grows increasingly anxious about her agreement to marry Max. Grace’s son Roger loses his longtime partner Charles to HIV-AIDS and decides to move closer to his mother–a decision that Grace isn’t completely happy with. Amelia isn’t either, since Roger rejected the love of her close friend Mike, who has yet to recover. Grace becomes jealous of her boyfriend Bob’s friendship with the ribald Ellie, and Amelia begins to wonder if she can live with this new, brooding Hannah. All three of the Ladies worry about teenage Lucy, who gets in trouble at school and may be talking with an unsavory person in an online chatroom.

With so many stressful changes happening, the Ladies decide they need a vacation and promptly book a Caribbean cruise. Everyone tries to relax, but it’s difficult living in such close quarters. Amelia and Hannah begin to fight, and Grace feels caught in the middle. Even though the the fire is long over, could the Ladies go up in smoke? As usual, Covington works its magic, and all turns out well with good food and good friends.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | March 7, 2012 · 4:22 pm

Joan Medlicott. The Spirit of Covington. New York: Atria Books, 2003.

The Ladies of Covington that you know and love are back in this, the fourth book of Joan Medlicott’s popular series. Tired of watching their lives waste away at a dismal Pennsylvania boarding house for widows, 60-something Hannah, Amelia, and Grace threw their lots together when Amelia unexpectedly inherited a farmhouse in the little town of Covington. Often compared to Jan Karon’s Mitford, Covington is a small, North Carolina mountain town near Asheville.

In this installment of their adventures, the unthinkable happens: a careless forest fire burns the Ladies’ precious renovated farmhouse to the ground. Amelia, for all her complaining about the opossums in the walls and the creaky floorboards, is the most devastated. With the loss of the farmhouse, all the other losses in her life (the deaths of her husband and young daughter in particular) rise up and threaten to send her into a deep depression. Hannah and Grace are also saddened by the loss of their possessions and the house, but they are initially willing to rebuild in an affordable, modern style. But Amelia’s pain causes them to reconsider, and soon the Ladies are having an exact replica of the old building constructed. All seems well, but building a house takes a long time, and each woman will face different challenges that will threaten her former lifestyle: insistent gentleman friends proposing, abused children who need a guardian, and the problems visited on them by their own blood relatives all present Hannah, Amelia, and Grace with compelling reasons to move on with the rest of their lives. Will they decide to stay in Covington, the town each has come to know and love, after all? And will they remain, together, the Ladies?

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

 

 

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by | December 31, 2009 · 6:24 pm

Joan Medlicott. A Blue and Gray Christmas. New York: Pocket Books, 2009.

When Hannah’s husband Max discovers a battered tin box in the foundation of a house he is restoring, he brings it to Hannah and her dear friends Grace and Amelia. To their delight, it contains letters and diaries from two Civil War soldiers, one from South Carolina and the other from Connecticut. What historic treasures!  But it is the human story that attracts the ladies–two young men nursed back to health by a local woman to whom they then become bound by gratitude. Not content to leave the story of these men and the kindly woman in the past, the friends make plans to bring the men’s descendants to Covington. Amelia and a local school teacher head to Connecticut to track down the Union soldier’s family.  Meanwhile, life in Covington goes on.  Hannah tries to help her sort-of daughter-in-law, Sarina, find happiness after her husband has left her.  Sarina’s romance with a local pastor stirs up the church.  When Grace is injured in a car accident, Bob is denied access to her because they are not married, causing him great pain. Will the incident cause Grace to reconsider her decision not to marry?

This is the ninth novel in Medlicott’s  Covington Novels series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | May 30, 2009 · 3:23 pm

Joan Medlicott. From the Heart of Covington. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

From the Heart of Covington continues the stories of Hannah, Amelia, and Grace, older ladies who share a house in the fictional town of Covington, NC. In this, the third book in the series, a close friend’s cancer impacts all of the women, but each has her own issues to contend with. Amelia furthers her photography career and takes a trip to New York. Grace volunteers at the local elementary school, deals with her son’s rocky relationship, and faces a diabetes diagnosis. Hannah is reunited with her estranged daughter and the younger woman, Laura, comes to live in Covington after she is seriously injured in a boating disaster.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

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by | April 27, 2009 · 11:17 am

Joan Medlicott. Promises of Change. New York: Pocket Books, 2009.

Hannah found true love when she married her business partner Max in Two Days after the Wedding. Of course, Hannah still lives mostly with her friends Amelia and Grace in the house across the street from Max’s.  It’s all working fine until Max’s son Zachary and his very pregnant wife arrive in Covington.  Zachary is an unhappy soul, and his father’s failure to tell him about his marriage is just one more grievance for Zachary. Hannah does her best to make things work, as she opens her heart to Zachary’s wife Sarina and the baby Sarah. The ladies of Covington are coping with health problems, but there is still a lot of life in the novel as Max helps Jose and Anna open a restaurant, Amelia decides that she wants a dog, and the town mobilizes against a scammer who preys on senior citizens.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | February 20, 2009 · 2:13 pm

Joan Medlicott. The Gardens of Covington. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2001.

The “Ladies” have been living in Covington for just over a year and although they have settled into their home, they’re not so sure they are truly accepted by their neighbors. Each of the women faces her own trials, tribulations, and triumphs: Hannah works in her greenhouse and takes up an environmental cause, Grace opens a tearoom with her gentleman friend Bob (who wants to build a house on the ladies’ land), and Amelia works on her photography and falls for a mysterious man. The ladies also befriend the lonely and elderly Miss Lurina Masterson and face developers from Georgia who want to ruin their beloved Cove Road with a slew of new condominiums. This is the second book in Medlicott’s Covington series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | November 29, 2008 · 4:14 pm

Joan Medlicott. Come Walk with Me. New York: Pocket Books, 2007.

Joan Medlicott takes a break from her Ladies of Covington series in this book that follows Claire Bennett, a successful New York antiques dealer, who has to rebuild her life after the death of her husband.  Like many of us, Claire has unspoken sorrows, suppressed anger, and difficulties with family members.  It takes Claire some time to accept that her husband has died.  Once she does, she looks for a new man to fill that void, but the real path to wholeness is through rapprochement with her estranged adult children.  Claire’s daughter has recently moved to Weaverville where she and her fiance settle on his family’s farm.  Much of the action takes place in Buncombe County, with many references to shops and sites in the area.  This novel lacks the humor of the Covington books, but it tells a satisfying story of one woman’s journey to wholeness.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | November 5, 2008 · 4:37 pm

Joan Medlicott. An Unexpected Family. New York: Pocket Books, 2007.

Early on in the Miss Julia series by Ann Ross, Miss Julia has to confront the fact that her late husband had a child by another woman.  This time it’s one of the ladies of Covington who has unexpected and unwelcome visitors.  In this, the seventh book in the series, Amelia opens the door one snowy afternoon to a young woman who claims to be the daughter of her late husband.  Amelia reacts with a combination of disbelief and outrage.  Hannah and Grace recognize that this woman and her daughter need help, and that in helping them Amelia could create the security and warmth of a family for three people who need just that.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | · 4:30 pm

Joan Medlicott. Two Days after the Wedding. New York: Pocket Books, 2006.

Amelia, Hannah, and Grace have been through a lot of ups and downs in the five previous titles in Medlicott’s Covington series. In this book Hannah agrees to marry her business partner, Max, in order to avoid estate taxes when Max dies. It’s supposed to be strictly business, but Hannah soon realizes that she loves Max. She panics–these strong feelings scare her, she’s not sure what Max feels, and her great good friends, Amelia and Grace, are not available to offer wise counsel. Hannah must consider what she’d loose and what she’d gain by choosing the married life over the one that she has built with Amelia and Grace.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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by | August 20, 2008 · 11:38 am

Joan Medlicott. The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Amelia, Hannah, and Grace have a lot in common: they are all in their 60s, disconnected from their remaining family members, and living unhappily in a gloomy Pennsylvania boardinghouse. When Amelia inherits a North Carolina farmhouse and its surrounding land, the three women pile into Hannah’s station wagon and drive to the fictional mountain town of Covington. This short visit to see the property is just the start of their adventure. After renovating the house and moving to N.C., the women begin to discover new interests and start to reconnect with their families. A Publisher’s Weekly reviewer has compared Medlicott’s Covington (which is located near Mars Hill and Asheville) with Jan Karon’s town of Mitford.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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