In the Company of Others (w/ a giveaway!)

Yes, my friends, it's true! The latest Father Tim novel has been released (today!) It's been three years since we've heard from Karon and it was some (minor minor minor) degree of excitement that I accepted and received a copy of In the Company of Others from Viking Press to read and share with you.

I eagerly dove into this story where we find Father Tim and his lovely wife, Cynthia, making their long awaited trip to Ireland. Given the fact that it had been three years since my last visit with Father Tim, I wasn't sure if I would need a refresher, but it was easy to pick up where I had left off and breeze along through this story.

Jan Karon describes In the Company of Others as being her "personal favorite" of all of her stories. She refers to this one as her "dark-haired child." I can't say that it was necessarily my favorite but I certainly was not disappointed!

Father Tim and Cynthia vacation in a guest lodge and anticipate a time of quiet rest before traveling around Ireland with Tim's cousin and his wife. However, Cynthia suffers a severely strained ankle due to a mysterious incident (don't want to give away spoilers here!) at the guest house and so the entire book takes place in one location. This was perfectly fine by me and I enjoyed both the scenery and the characters which they surrounded themselves with during their stay.

I find Karon's novels to be calm and peaceful, even if there is a bit of dark mystery about them. You just feel relaxed when reading her books. At the same time, I would harbor one complaint against this particular title, if I may, and that was that the dialogue was rather difficult to follow. I don't remember this from her other books, but she bounced around from characters some, so that I had difficulty figuring out who was saying what. She wrote streams of conversation without interjecting who was doing the talking so I frequently found myself having to re-read various parts to figure out what was happening. After awhile, I figured out that I could plow on through the conversation and make sense at the end of it. That was a surprising find for me in this book, but it didn't take away my joy from the basic story.

If you like Mitford and you like Father Tim, well, then you are definitely going to want to pick up a copy of this book. It is a delight.

I have some good news for those of you who love Karon's works! Viking Press has offered to give away one copy of In the Company of Others to one of you! Would you care to win? (Of course you would!) Simply leave a comment below. This contest will be open through Tuesday, October 26th and is open to U.S. Residents only.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER, as selected by random.org, IS #26 - Cacey! CONGRATULATIONS!

Enjoy! (I've no doubt you will!)