Sweet Everlasting (Topaz Historical Romances) [Paperback]

Patricia Gaffney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1993 | Series: Topaz Historical Romances

Shattered by a devastating secret, shy Carrie Wiggins flees from Wayne's Crossings's cruel villagers and sets up house in the mountains, where she encounters handsome Tyler Wilkes, an aristocrat who has also turned his back on society.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tyler Wilkes, a physician from an affluent Philadelphia family, has bought a practice in small-town Wayne's Crossing. Formerly one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, he dreams of becoming an epidemiologist and finding a cure for malaria. Instead, he meets Carrie Wiggins, a mute waif who lives with her abusive and zealously religious stepfather in a small mountain cabin. She shares her "hospital"--a clearing in the woods where she bandages and cares for injured animals--with Tyler, and her naivete enchants him. Carrie communicates by writing in a small notebook until Tyler happens upon her when she is alone and singing one day and discovers that she is capable of speech. Gaffney ( Another Eden ) populates the burg with interesting characters, such as Dr. Stoneman, the curmudgeonly country doctor whose office Tyler has acquired; Mrs. Quick, Tyler's nosy housekeeper; and Broom, a tall, skinny boy who suffers from St. Vitus's Dance. This historical romance is more cerebral than most, but 18-year-old Carrie's childlike innocence is so powerful that it gives the eventual intimacy between her and Tyler an unsettling undercurrent of pedophilia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Gaffney has a blunt and convincing insight into her characters, particularly the women.” —The Washington Post

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Topaz (July 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451403754
• ISBN-13: 978-0451403759
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia Gaffney began her writing career with the publication of Sweet Treason, a historical romance set in revolutionary Scotland. Eleven romance novels later, she tried something different--The Saving Graces, a story of women's friendships, that ended up spending 17 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List.

Circle of Three, Flight Lessons, and The Goodbye Summer followed, all bestsellers that established Gaffney as a premier mainstream fiction writer.

Her new book is Mad Dash, the story of a happy marriage in trouble. It's due out in Spring 2008.

Gaffney, who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, is currently at work on a novel about a man who changes his life when he finds out he's dying--then finds out he isn't. Working title: On Second Thought.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I stayed up all night reading this book, December 7, 1999

By 

Kimberly E. Davis (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Everlasting (Topaz Historical Romances) (Paperback)

I couldn't put this book down. I've never stayed up all night reading a book. I felt such sympathy for the characters of this book that I just wanted to reach out and touch them. For anyone who has ever felt their love of another was forbidden due to what was acceptable, you'll love this book. I love the timeframe of the book, the story line, the characters, and the love scenes were so SWEET EVERLASTING. This is the first Patricia Gaffney book that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gaffney!, November 15, 2001

By 

Chris Cummings (OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Everlasting (Paperback)

Another beautiful love story by Gaffney - one of her very best and most poignant, I believe. Carrie is impoverished and lonely, a lovely mute whose silence harbors a dark secret. Tyler is the new town doctor, sensitive and kind, lively and intelligent. Carrie responds to Tyler's kindness with shy, yet unabashed adoration, but Tyler fights his growing attraction for this young innocent. Of course she doesn't belong to his social class, but the scruples Tyler struggles with are more complicated than mere social convention; Carrie is fragile, innocent, damaged, and mute, and it would be morally reprehensible of him, he believes, to succumb to the passionate feelings she sparks within him and take advantage of her seemingly uncomplicated trust. What Tyler isn't aware of, however, is that Carrie's heart is strong enough for the both of them. A very tender and memorable story.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All The Right Elements, May 17, 2001

By 

Suzanne Maeker (Luling, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Everlasting (Paperback)

This is my first Patricia Gaffney book. Reviewing the long list of her books makes me wonder where I have been....and I read lots and lots of romance. This one has all the right elements. First, a wonderful heroine who has had a rough life but turns out to be loving and kind and smart! (Oh, what a grand store of information she has gleaned all on her own!) Secondly, there's the handsome compassionate doctor who is from the opposite side of the tracks and has a hard time imagining merging his life with the heroine's. Thirdly, they can't seem to resist each other no matter how different their beginnings. It's a great read....try it, you'll like it!