Review by Booklist Review
Lori Shepherd has been having a hard time. She's divorced, she's working as a temp, and, perhaps the worst blow of all, her mother has just died. As a girl, Lori used to adore the stories her mother told her about Aunt Dimity, who lived in England, but Lori always assumed Dimity was just a product of her mother's imagination. Wrong. To her amazement, Lori learns from representatives of an upper-crust law firm that there really was a Dimity and that, before her recent death, she assembled Lori's mother's stories about her into a book, for which she has asked in her will that Lori write an introduction. So it's off to Dimity's cottage in the English countryside, where Lori discovers 40 years of Dimity's and her mother's correspondence--in which it is revealed that they led very different lives than Lori would have dreamed. The tale doesn't even pretend to be probable, veering from a mystery to a ghost story in rather haphazard fashion. One wants to be stern, to point out the book's many improbabilities, e.g., the way the young scion of the law firm manages to drop everything and accompany Lori to England for a month, or the fact that Dimity's cottage is both the most charming in all of Great Britain and fully equipped with central air and a modern kitchen. In the end, though, none of this matters because the novel is more than a mystery or a ghost story; it's an utterly sweet and tender love story, and the plot improbabilities only heighten the emotional impact of the romance. As Lori says as she ties up several strands of love stories, Dimity's and her own, "I wrote of how vital it was to believe in the love offered by an honest heart, no matter how impractical or absurd or fearful the circumstances. Because all times were uncertain and the chance might never come again." ~--Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Despite its buoyant tone, this blend of fairy tale, ghost story, romance and mystery proves a disappointment. First novelist Atherton creates a potentially appealing heroine in bewitched and bewildered Lori Shepherd, but never places her in danger, thus sacrificing suspense. Recently divorced and newly bereaved by her beloved mother's death, Lori is scraping by as an office temp in Boston when she receives a letter from a Boston law firm informing her of the death in England of Miss Dimity Westwood. Lori is shocked because she had thought adventurous Dimity was her mother's fictional creation, the star of made-up bedtime stories. Courtly lawyer William Willis and his attentive son Bill inform Lori that Dimity left instructions that she and Bill go to her Cotswolds cottage to prepare a collection of ``Aunt Dimity'' stories for publication. They find the cottage haunted by the ghost of Dimity, who blocks their efforts to trace the secret of her WW II romance with a gallant flier. That all ends happily comes as a surprise to none but Lori. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Atherton's first mystery combines a strong sense of traditional English fare with an insistent gothic spirit. Suffering from her recent divorce, her mother's death, and an erratic income, Lori Shepherd receives notice from a prestigious Boston law firm that she must travel to England in order to meet the requirements of a will. While visiting her benefactor's ``haunted'' cottage with lawyer friend Bill, she uncovers important clues relating to a World War II mystery. Lightweight, nicely written material complete with a few heart palpitations. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Thirtyish Lori Shepherd--divorced; her mother recently deceased; her expertise in rare books finding no takers--is sharing digs and doing temp work when a letter reaches her from Willis and Willis, a venerable Boston law firm. It seems she's been left some money by Dimity Westwood--an Englishwoman her mother had met during WW II and had corresponded with for the rest of her life. Dimity's letters often consisted of stories from ``Aunt'' Dimity to tell to the growing-up Lori. Now, the legacy mandates a month-long visit to Dimity's country cottage in England, plus the compiling of the stories and the writing of an introduction to them. All this to be in the company of Bill Willis, younger partner of the father-and- son team who comprise Willis and Willis. Soon after their arrival, though, Lori realizes that Dimity's troubled spirit is very much alive--and that it won't rest until she's found the source of distress and put it to right. The search takes her and Bill back to the war years, to eventual success in their mission, and to the predictable walk into the sunset. Amiable, stylishly written--often with a touch of wry humor: a first novel for readers with an interest in the occult--and a high tolerance level for sentimental silliness.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
