Courtyard [Paperback]

Marcia Willett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 1996

Nell Woodward and Gussie Merton make unlikely friends - one a young married woman and the other a lonely elderly lady. Nell's husband, John, is an estate agent fresh from the Navy, but he is ignorant of the outside world and, as others abandon the collapsing property market, he gets in deeper...It is at Nethercombe, the home of Gussie's nephew, Henry, that a refuge is found. Henry has developed and sold a cluster of cottages, known as The Courtyard, and the people who buy them form a bond of friendship that embraces Nell and Gussie. But it is going to take all their strength to withstand the crises ahead...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A chance tea shop meeting between an elderly pensioner and a beautiful young mother blossoms into friendship in this treat from British novelist Willett (Echoes of the Dance), first published 10 years ago in the U.K. It's 1988 in Bristol, England, and Nell Woodward, with young son Jack in boarding school, is uneasily married to John, a former navy officer who is trying to remake himself as a realtor. Meanwhile, Henry Morley is converting the stables of his estate, Nethercombe Court, into the Courtyard, a housing development. Henry's wedding preparations are underway as the book opens, and soon after, his discontented younger bride, Gillian, has problems adjusting to country life. At the same time, Nell's friendship with Gussie Merton, an elderly second cousin of Henry's, brings them both to Nethercombe. As relationships unravel, crises rise and fall, and tragedy strikes. Willett creates a compact multirelationship saga with a nice edge, sharpened by Willett's keen depiction of Nell and John's marriage in particular. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

Praise for the Novels of Marcia Willett
 
"A must for women fiction readers."
---Booklist on The Children's Hour
 
"Like Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy, Willett creates such fully dimensional characters that readers feel as if they should phone or e-mail them to keep in touch."
---Rocky Mountain News on A Week in Winter
 
"Thoroughly engrossing, with richly drawn characters, a mysterious locale, and a beautifully crafted plot."
---The South Florida Sun-Sentinel on A Week in Winter
 
"Readers will enjoy the heartwarming ending, vibrant characters, and the excellent depiction of the English countryside."
---Booklist (starred review) on A Summer in the Country

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (June 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747252017
• ISBN-13: 978-0747252016
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,293,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revel In Family Drama on the Moors of Dartmoor, November 8, 2006

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courtyard (Paperback)

Augusta Merton may be Marcia Willett's greatest creation of her many great characters. She is elderly, alone, and poor when we meet her in an English teashop on the first page of this compelling story. Elegant enough to pause for tea in a nice shop but too poor to afford a piece of cake with her tea, Gussie finds an unlikely friend that day in the much younger Nell Woodward. Little did they know on that day, but the two would share a lifetime of triumphs and tragedies thanks to a second-hand dress and a borrowed hat.

A large English estate with stable buildings that are being converted into cottages is the setting for this multi-layered drama. Adultery, deception, death, despair, and redemption all play important roles in this, but it is the characters who give the work such a rich depth and make the reader anxious to turn the pages and discover what could possibly happen next.

Some of those who will intrigue you are: Henry, the altruistic lord of the manor; Gillian, his spoiled and selfish wife who learns a lot about life; John, the former navy man now finding his way in real estate ventures; Guy, the son of Kate Webster from previous novels, who finds a home in the courtyard; Elizabeth, the career woman with a few regrets; her best friend Lydia who is also Gillian's mother; and, of course, Gussie and Nell, who propel the plot and whose lives are the focus of a great part of the story.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fan of Marcia Willett's writing, October 11, 2007

By 

Donna G. Davis (Rockford, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Courtyard (Paperback)

Marcia Willett is an author who is frequently compared to Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchey and I would definitely concur. She is a wonderful storyteller.

This is a another book about families and lives entertwining, joy and sadness, to sum it up in two words dysfunctional lives - something we can all identify with.

This book will warm your heart as her books always do. I loved all the characters. Gussie, Henry, Nell, Gillian, Phoebe, Guy, Gemma. You just have to read it and you will love them too and miss them when you get to the end of the book.

I love the characters and this time there aren't so many I can't keep track of them. The story is intersting and keeps you reading to see how all the different lives will blend and play themselves out in the end. Of course, all the time hoping for a happy ending?

I love her writing and the charming places it takes me, she weaves stories of life and love that we can all understand. I love Marcia Willett and was so happy that Gussie had faith in God and talked to him, it was so refreshing in the world we live in today.. I meant to give it 5 stars.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue for publication in the United States, October 11, 2007

By 

Ellen Wertheimer "British novel reader" (Bala Cynwyd, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Courtyard (Paperback)

The Courtyard is an excellent book, beautifully written, vivid, and evocative. The characters come alive, and so do their lives. The reader ends up caring deeply about them, hoping that all will turn out well. One of the huge advantages to Marcia Willett's books, incidentally, is that characters from her novels tend to show up in subsequent novels, so the reader really has a chance to "see what happens."

It is about time that her books were published, in order, in the United States. The first of her books was First Friends, second is A Friend of the Family (called Thea's Parrot in England), and third is The Courtyard. I look forward to more of the books being issued in the lovely editions shared by the first three!