The Edge of Town [Hardcover]

Dorothy Garlock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

At 21, Julia Jones is convinced that life is passing her by. Her mother's death four years ago left her in charge of caring for her father and five siblings, and dashed her hopes of meeting that special someone who would whisk her away to the glamorous big city. Then all at once, Julia's predictable existence is over-turned when her father finds love with an attractive widow, and Evan Johnson, the mysterious son of the town drunkard returns home and starts courting her. With his arrival, however, comes a series of devastating tragedies as Evan's father is found murdered, and a series of brutal rapes rocks the town. In a rush to judgement, the townsfolk are all pointing to Evan as the guilty party, except for one person. Amid growing tensions, Julie Jones has been hiding a dark personal secret - and falling desperately in love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First love is sweet for a fresh-faced country girl in bestselling author Garlock's latest romance, set in 1920s Missouri. Since her mother's death, lovely Julie Jones has cared for her farmer father and five siblings. She dotes on her family, but she also dreams of the day a worthy love will come and whisk her away. When Evan Johnson, the son of the Joneses' despised neighbor, Walter, comes home to take over his father's farm, he proves a pleasant surprise. The handsome young WWI vet has a college education, and is nothing like his drunken, abusive father. Julie worries that he'll never notice a country girl, but Evan falls fast for her and her lively, tight-knit family. The course of true love does sport a few bumps: a neighbor's pretty sister, Birdie, and her daughter come to visit and Birdie sets her cap for Julie's father, Jethro, managing to stir up plenty of trouble. Meanwhile, local lawman Corbin Appleby is stalking a rapist who has been preying on the young women of the county for years, and who hovers frighteningly near the Jones family. A secret Julie has kept for years threatens the lovers' happiness, too, but trust and justice win the day in this heartland romance. Garlock's dark and incongruously graphic rape subplot seems out of place in an otherwise charming story, but her sprightly dialogue and convincing depiction of family farm life rescue the tale. Major ad/promo; pre-sell tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Evocative of Catherine Cookson's fictional families, Garlock's Jones family is close-knit, loving, and hardworking. While Julie has looked after her five younger siblings since she dropped out of high school to nurse their mother through the last year of her life, Fertile, Missouri, has grown big enough as the 1920s roar to life to need a police presence. The town leaders hire Corbin Appleby, who has a hidden agenda. Evan Johnson, a decorated veteran of the Great War and son of the town's drunken bully, also comes to town, as does the scheming widow Birdie Stuart and her spoiled young daughter. As Julie begins to date Evan, Birdie creates big problems that could tear the family apart and send Evan to prison. And that's not all: a serial rapist is on the loose. With settings and characters so authentic the reader believes they have a past and a future, Garlock's heartwarming romantic historicals are Americana at its best. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1ST edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446527696
• ISBN-13: 978-0446527699
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,683,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

National bestselling and award-winning author of thirty-five romances that often feature the exciting backdrop of the Old West, Dorothy Garlock is one of America's-and the world's-favorite novelists. Her books, all enthusiastically reviewed, now total more than eight million copies in print with translations in 15 languages. She lives in Clear Lake, Iowa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, August 27, 2001

By 

Holly Fuhrmann (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Edge of Town (Hardcover)

In a time when flappers run wild, Julie Jones lives a quiet life on her father's farm, taking care of her younger siblings. Evan Johnson, the son of the town bully, has come back to Fertile, Missouri from the Great War, and his arrival heralds a season of change for the small farming community. The town's hired a new police officer who discovers that something sinister is going on in town, and a rich, helpless widow sets her sites on finding a man to take care of her...if Evan won't do it, then maybe Julie's father will. Evan spends his summer proving to the town he is nothing like his father. He doesn't look twice at the widow, his eyes are set on Julie. Together they find they can overcome any obstacle. Dorothy Garlock delivers an emotionally charged story of love and change. Change for a nation, change for a town...and change for a couple who was meant to be together.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Garlock has never been better!, April 19, 2001

By 

Beachreader "BeachReader" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Edge of Town (Hardcover)

Dorothy Garlock has long been one of my favorite authors and I have believed that her work has been of hardcover quality for many years so it is wonderful that the publisher has decided she is deserving of this as well. With her hardcover debut, THE EDGE OF TOWN, she simply outdoes herself.

It is 1920s and Julie Jones has been left to care for her five young brothers and sisters while her father tends their farm just outside of Fertile, Missouri, her mother having died in a flu epidemic four years previously.

Evan Johnson has returned to town years after leaving to live with his grandparents and after serving in the Great War. He is living with his father, the lecherous town bully and drunk, in a rundown home, not too far from the Jones's farm. He is immediately attracted to Julie when he saves her from his father's lecherous advances as she is walking home from town.

There is something sinister about as a series of brutal rapes rock the small farming community. Who could be the culprit? Could it be the same person who molested Julie years previously? Julie's father's loneliness and desire for female companionship threaten to rip the family apart when he takes in a Birdie, a widow and her young daughter, falling victim to her charms. A series of secrets are revealed and then a near tragedy threatens to spoil Julie and Evan's chance at happiness.

Julie is pretty typical of Garlock's heroines - strong, intelligent, caring, and not afraid of hard work. Evan, as a hero, is a wonderful match for Julie and embodies many of the same characteristics.

Rich and multi-layered, THE EDGE OF TOWN is a wonderful story with rich characterization and several very dramatic scenes as the rapist is discovered as well Birdie's true background, and the outcome of an additional horrific crime, making for a real page turner. Garlock is known for books that are a part of the series, and I am hoping we are going to see a book soon about Corbin Appleby, the young lawman who comes to town after his fiancée has been raped and murdered by a man from Fertile.

In the past, many romance readers have been disappointed in the books of their favorite authors once they go hardcover. Not with this one, this is one that is very much worth paying the hardcover price. I also hope, by being in hardcover, the books of the talented Dorothy Garlock will be discovered by more and more fans - she deserves to be a household word. Simply outstanding reading!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breath-taking, romantic, and sweetly enjoyable - a real gem!, January 17, 2002

By 

Jody L. Schoth (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Edge of Town (Hardcover)

This highly enjoyable story stars Julie Jones, the quiet country girl living on her father's farm and caring for her siblings, since her mother's death. The nearby farm houses the town bully, that leaves many of the residents of Fertile, Missouri in fear. What happens when his son, Evan Johnson, returns from the war to care for the family farm so his father doesn't drive it into the ground, and then finds himself falling in love with Julie, and desperately trying to prove he is not like his father. Julie, believing she is nothing more than an old spinster, permanently tied to the care of her siblings, that doesn't have the heart to ever marry and leave them - feels confident that her place will never be as a mother or wife. When that dream actually seems like a possibility to Julie, she must face her deepest and darkest secret to the love of her life, and await his reaction.

There are many more twists, including a new police chief in town with his own secret agenda - who also has his eyes set on Julie, a spoiled widow set on finding a new husband that sets her eyes on Evan Johnson and then on Julie's father. When she manages to become a guest of Julie's father in the Jones family farm - she creates tons of chaos, fears in the hearts of Julie and her siblings, and stress deep enough to break ties of the strong and loving Jones family forever. Among other problems, the town must face there is a rapist among them, and all eyes are pointing at Evan Johnson and his father.

This is an explosive and loving family story, with dark secrets and deep passions that are threatened to go without relief. Dorothy Garlock is a genius in character development, and this book is no different. Within the entire story, you'll also experience the effects the family must endure, due to the sign of the times of the 1920's.

I'm sure you will love this historical romance, and if so... check out other Dorothy Garlock historical romance books - this is one of my favorite... but not her best!!! This book will WOW you, that's for sure, and leave you wanting more! Enjoy!!!