Homeplace [Mass Market Paperback]

Dorothy Garlock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1991

Ana is a stranger to the lonesome Iowa farm where she has gone to live after the death of her stepdaughter. She struggles to raise her late stepdaughter's child in a farmhouse filled with danger, but soon finds a daring new dream.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446359882
• ISBN-13: 978-0446359887
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Garlock, Dorothy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read with a gentle love story, March 11, 2006

By 

Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeplace (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first book that I have read by Dorothy Garlock and I very much enjoyed it. I had picked it not realising that it was sent in Frontier America - a time and place that don't hold any particular interest for me. However, from the first page I was hooked on the story.

Ana, a widow, receives a letter from her stepdaughter (just 11 years younger than her, at 16) who ran away to marry the man who had got her pregnant. She summons Ana to attend the birth and thus Ana is thrust into a strange family with all their secrets and problems.

Harriet dies in childbirth and Ana promises her at the end that she will bring up the baby, Harry. This binds her to Harriet's husband's family as the baby's father and Harriet's husband, Owen Jamison, won't allow her to leave. His sister, Esther, has treated Harriet abysmally and treats Ana similarly. The story unfolds as we learn about the history of Esther, Owen and their absent brother Paul and the way in which it has bound them together but also caused them huge pain. The writing is excellent, with great period detail about living and working in America of the nineteenth century.

There is a gentle love story which is a joy to read, and as the events unfold and we learn that things aren't necessarily as they seem, the resolution is very satisfying.

I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to others.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite from Dorothy Garlock!, January 31, 2000

By 

Laura (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homeplace (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is one of my all time favorites.I have reread it many times. The characters engaged me immediately. Because my family farmed in Missouri, the setting of 1880's Iowa captured my imagination. I like that Mrs. Garlock uses characters who have real life afflictions and the main characters have to cope with them; in this book it is mental illness, mental retardation, and teenage rebellion. I also like how the hero has his own personal issues to overcome and is not just the savior for the heroine. The warmth of family life is here too. If you like Dorothy Garlock's books, this will become one of your favorites too.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good!, April 26, 2001

By 

J. Williams (Worcester, Ma United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeplace (Mass Market Paperback)

Dorothy Garlock has written another wonderful book. This one looks at the family dynamics on a small farm in Missouri and the joy one woman brings into an abused family.

This is definitly heavier material than in most Garlock books but well worth it.