Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?! (Welcome to Partonville) [Mass Market Paperback]

Charlene Baumbich (Author)

Book Description

Series: Welcome to Partonville | Publication Date: August 30, 2005

Charlene Ann Baumbich has won a loyal following of readers with the first three books in the Dearest Dorothy series, featuring the amusing and touching adventures of the townspeople of Partonville. Now Charlene Baumbich uses her wonderful gift of storytelling to celebrate the simple pleasures of life in this heartwarming and hilarious story. The fourth book in the series finds the residents of Partonville preparing for a festive Thanksgiving dinner at the local church. Amid assigning duties and preparing recipes, everyone tries to ignore bossy acting mayor Gladys McKern. Meanwhile, Jessica Joy struggles with an unexpected turn of events, Katie Durbin considers another real estate project, and Dearest Dorothy doles out advice and love in equal amounts to everyone.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlene Ann Baumbich is the author of the previous three books in the Partonville series. A popular speaker, journalist, and author, for several years she has lectured to women’s groups and retreats. Baumbich is also an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Today’s Christian Woman, and numerous other publications. She is the author of six nonfiction books of humor and inspiration.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014303619X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143036197
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,095,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, entertaining, and inspiring, December 1, 2005

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?! (Welcome to Partonville) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is Book 4 in the Welcome to Partonville series, which started early in 2004 with DEAREST DOROTHY, ARE WE THERE YET?

I'm new to this series. I jumped in at this late juncture, yet I was quickly hooked. Though the book would be more intriguing to readers who have previously come to know the characters of the fictitious town of Partonville, Illinois, WHO WOULD HAVE EVER THOUGHT?! stands on its own as engaging, low-action entertainment and inspiration.

Judging by the books' titles (including DEAREST DOROTHY, HELP! I'VE LOST MYSELF!) Dorothy Westra --- who turns 88 at the end of this installment --- is meant to be the series's leading lady. But in this particular book, Charlene Ann Baumbich gives a large cast of characters nearly equal billing. Eight key women, spanning three generations, are members of the Happy Hookers, a group originally formed to meet once a month to hook rugs but now to play bunco, "a raucous, mindless dice game that offered a great opportunity for gab, prizes and dessert."

The book recounts the Partonville goings on for most of a month, after the October Pumpkin Festival, leading up to three events: the November Hookers meeting, a first-ever Thanksgiving Day community dinner --- organized by the Social Concerns Committee of the United Methodist Church in conjunction with St. Augustine's Catholic Church --- and Dorothy's birthday celebration.

Though the November Hookers hostess, Jessie Landers, isn't a churchgoer, many of the others are Methodists who comfortably break forth into silent or audible prayer, for the sick among them, including young Jessica whose severe nausea portends an unplanned pregnancy, and the much older May Belle, who is in bed with a bad back.

Baumbich deftly threads several story lines together. For fellow Hooker, middle-aged grocery-store employee Nellie Ruth McGregor, romance blossoms with a local handyman. The Landers welcome houseguests who stay several weeks. That Thanksgiving dinner gradually gets organized, with or without the help of Acting Mayor Gladys McKern. The new-to-town city slicker and commercial real-estate developer --- Katie Durbin --- mellows and grows to appreciate the small-town (with a population fewer than 1,500): its people, its values, its property.

The narrator's voice is important to this book: a touch of humor; a gentle revealer of heart-secrets (Nellie Ruth has never been kissed); a friendly, unidentified overseer, rallying in support of small towns everywhere that are in danger of being lost to encroaching suburban sprawl.

Like Miss Read, Barbara Pym and Jan Karon, Charlene Ann Baumbich transports you to a place that lingers in your mind, nudging your desire to return.

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dearest Dorothy You are Great, October 10, 2005

By 

Susan E. Keane "Grandma" (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?! (Welcome to Partonville) (Mass Market Paperback)

I so look forward to getting home from work, finishing dinner and then crawling into bed to read more of Dearest Dorothy's high jinks. It is the type of book that keeps your interest but does not assault your senses. You can relax with Dorothy.
Susan Keane, Rockville, MD

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVELY PLACE TO LIVE, April 12, 2008

By 

LUV TO READ "LORRAINE" (RHODE ISLAND, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?! (Dearest Dorothy) (Paperback)

This is the fourth book in this wonderful series. I just love these books

This is another great chapter in the continuing saga of the citizens of Partonville,Illinois.

Once you get into any one of these Dearest Dorothy books you become engrossed in the lives of the quirky, charming characters you meet in Partonville and can't wait to read the next book

Dorothy, the main character of this series turned 88 yrs. old at the end of this book and celebrates with Lemon Chiffon Cake with her good friends, Jessica, Jessie,Nelie Ruth, May Belle and Gladys. Gladys is a very special character as the Acting Mayor of the town. Gladys canbe quite annoying, but she means well and is an interesting addition to this saga.

You gain insight into your own heart through empathizing with all the charming citizens of this friendly town.

Each of the Dearest Dorothy books have some laugh-out-loud moments which is very good for the soul.

Each book can be read as a stand alone story, however, if you want to get a complete look at this wonderful town, you willwant to get all six of them.

You will meet all the quaint characters from Harry's Grill to the Happy Hookers and they all welcome you.