The Year on Ladybug Farm

"The Year on Ladybug Farm" by Donna Ball This books is about three ladies in their 50s who decide it is time to make a big change, but what they take on is bigger than they ever imagined - a 100+ year old dilapidated house and property in the country.

"Three close friends and neighbors, Cici, Bridget and Lindsey, find themselves at a crossroads in life and long to do something different, something unique. Bridget has recently become widowed, Cici divorced, and Lindsey retired from her teaching position. So when the opportunity to purchase a dilapidated old house in the Shenandoah Valley comes up, the ladies decide to make the leap from their comfortable suburban lives and become lady farmers."

I've just read this book. It is delightful. I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe because I know what it is like to leave the city and "go bush" and a little of what living in the country is like. Maybe because there is no violence or mystery and I've read quite a lot of murder mysteries lately? There is no romance (or minimal). Yet it was compelling reading, mostly because you want to know whether they make it to the end of the year they've promised each other and whether they'll go longer than that. There are also enough 'incidents' to make you wonder what on earth they'll come up against next in their effort to restore this house and reclaim the farm. To be honest, the relationships between the women are appealing too - honest, yet deep, abiding friendships, everything a woman might want in a girlfriend. Now I find there is a sequel and I want to read it...now. But the library doesn't have it yet. Sigh.