When Letty Hendrickson dies, she leaves an enormous bequest to Mather College - but to her husband Joel, she leaves 150 acres in Vermont that he didn't know she owned. Joel goes to Vermont to sell the property, and discovers not a ski-country investment but the Ward Place: an old farm with a family graveyard and a house that is mysteriously clean and well-kept, in spite of having been empty since 1959. As Joel tries to solve the mystery of the bequest, he is assisted by three women. The first is Helena Woodhouse, who had a 45 year platonic friendship with Letty's guardian Nathaniel Brantford, the iconic president of Mather College from 1940 to 1977. The second is Charlotte (Charlie) Reynolds, a beautiful teenager whose eager research reveals the long-kept secrets of the Ward Place. And finally, first-hand understanding of the Vermont closed to outsiders is provided by Eleanor Randall Klimowski, a scholar who has been fired from her teaching job because of her increasing deafness , and who is now cleaning houses to support herself. What emerges is a tale of romance, misplaced pride, and unendurable sorrow - and Joel's realization that the bequest was a twisted but genuine act of love.

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Stevenson, Laura C.

Literature & Fiction

Burgeon and Flourish, LLC

Miracle Workers and Jugglers

With the frigid first breaths of spring, Mercy Stillwater "miraculously" regains her sight. Fresh eyes reveal deception and illuminate truths that might be better left unseen...  Her ever-on-the-cusp-of-fame, starving artist husband has been lying; her reclusive mother spends her days lighting candles for strangers on newscasts, and, hunkered down across the street, a devout flock witnesses an icon in peeling clapboards. Is this a sign that Mercy's gift of sight is the handiwork of the Almighty?  A fading reporter trusts that this "vision" is the story that will catapult her into stardom; she'll stop at nothing to get the scoop.  Mercy longs to flee the turmoil; a ticket out arrives from an enigmatic executive who believes that miracles are for losers and manipulating opportunity is the only way to find the American dream.  But when the cause of a past tragedy, long kept under wraps by Mercy's blindness, is unearthed, there is a struggle for answers: what constitutes a gift, what is forgivable, and, is anything worth believing in? An engaging story told with wit and insight, Miracle Workers and Jugglers follows its characters for one year, boomeranging from the Midwest to Manhattan and back.

Holvey, Cordelia

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Books by Burgeon and Flourish, LLC

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Miracle Workers and Jugglers