The Ladies of Lavender Lane
A Contemporary Christmas Fantasy.
Alice Beck’s life in Vineland, NJ is humdrum. She has a nice home, a good job, and a so-so husband. She loves to escape into romance novels, especially those written by bestselling author Felicity Twigg, whose one and only hero is handsome Edward Barclay, an 18th century duke with charm to spare. Alice’s husband Bradley can’t compare, so when he ends their marriage via text message saying that he met another woman, Alice is shocked because she can’t imagine that any other woman would want Bradley, but she’s not upset. Their marriage ended five years before when Alice suffered her third miscarriage and Bradley pulled away from her.
The same night her husband leaves home for the last time, Alice receives a call from a lawyer in Freehold telling her that her great-aunt Judith Keene has died in a small town called Everson and had left something to Alice in her will. Alice has never heard of Judith, but she agrees to come to the reading of the will.
One day while shopping for groceries, Alice finds the latest Felicity Twigg romance in the greeting card aisle. She buys it, takes it home, and puts it in her reading room. When she begins reading it, something catches her eye while flipping past the Acknowledgments.
“…I must acknowledge my dear friend, Judith Keene, whose invaluable counsel and advice has been the greatest blessing of my life.”
It can’t be the same Judith Keene, can it?
It is, or rather was the same Judith Keene, and Alice soon discovers that Aunt Judith was a quirky old woman who never left her property, home to an 18th century farm house. Alice also learns that Judith’s life was filled with secrets, including one that shakes the very foundation of Alice’s life. But as Alice’s life in Vineland unravels, her life in Everson is just beginning, culminating in a Christmas Eve surprise that opens her heart to a world of possibilities.
The Ladies of Lavender Lane is a novella under 40K words.
Alice Beck’s life in Vineland, NJ is humdrum. She has a nice home, a good job, and a so-so husband. She loves to escape into romance novels, especially those written by bestselling author Felicity Twigg, whose one and only hero is handsome Edward Barclay, an 18th century duke with charm to spare. Alice’s husband Bradley can’t compare, so when he ends their marriage via text message saying that he met another woman, Alice is shocked because she can’t imagine that any other woman would want Bradley, but she’s not upset. Their marriage ended five years before when Alice suffered her third miscarriage and Bradley pulled away from her.
The same night her husband leaves home for the last time, Alice receives a call from a lawyer in Freehold telling her that her great-aunt Judith Keene has died in a small town called Everson and had left something to Alice in her will. Alice has never heard of Judith, but she agrees to come to the reading of the will.
One day while shopping for groceries, Alice finds the latest Felicity Twigg romance in the greeting card aisle. She buys it, takes it home, and puts it in her reading room. When she begins reading it, something catches her eye while flipping past the Acknowledgments.
“…I must acknowledge my dear friend, Judith Keene, whose invaluable counsel and advice has been the greatest blessing of my life.”
It can’t be the same Judith Keene, can it?
It is, or rather was the same Judith Keene, and Alice soon discovers that Aunt Judith was a quirky old woman who never left her property, home to an 18th century farm house. Alice also learns that Judith’s life was filled with secrets, including one that shakes the very foundation of Alice’s life. But as Alice’s life in Vineland unravels, her life in Everson is just beginning, culminating in a Christmas Eve surprise that opens her heart to a world of possibilities.
The Ladies of Lavender Lane is a novella under 40K words.