Unusual, appealing characters, and a cluster of nonsensical situations mark Woodroof's sentimental Dixie charmer. Tom, the languid, long-suffering and slack-voiced husband of a mentally ill wife, is a professor of Shakespearean literature at a Virginia university; he learns that he has a 10-year-old son, Henry, from a short affair years before, who is coming for a visit. At the same time, Tom is falling in love with Rose, the intensely private, nomadic, newly hired manager of the college bookstore. As Tom, Rose, and meek-sounding Henry bond, various colleagues become entangled in their lives, culminating in a precarious situation when one of Tom's friends, a recovering alcoholic with an exaggerated, drawn-out drawl, becomes unstable. Reader King's attempt at differing Southern dialects-Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi-is mostly weak and distracts from the story's memorable moments, although her gravelly voice for Tom's no-nonsense mother-in-law, Agnes, a tough-talking former lawyer with a penchant for unfiltered Camel cigarettes, is perfection. A St. Martin's hardcover. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In this debut novel, the arrival of a spunky new manager at the local bookstore heralds a sea change in the college and community it serves.Tom Putnam's life has been virtually unchanged since he completed graduate school. He teaches English at a picturesque small-town college in Virginia. He lives in faculty housing with his wife, Marjory, a meek, troubled woman, and her mother, Agnes, who helps with Marjory's care. Tom is not necessarily happy, but he is dutiful, and he and Agnes make a good team. He enjoys his work and has a sort-of friend on the faculty, stuffed-shirt Russell Jacobs, and a sort-of nemesis, brash Iris Benson, but both are largely background to his daily, plodding existence. Late one summer, Rose Callahan appears on campus to invigorate programming at the bookstore. Simultaneously, immense changes descend on Tom's life: Marjory dies in an automobile accident, and a mysterious boy arrives on a train claiming to be the product of Tom's one, brief extramarital affair. Rose, though unconnected to these events, comes to the forefront of Tom's life as they unfold. With her forthright self-confidence and ease around others, Tom is drawn to her magnetically, and the feeling appears mutual. Soon, the caregiving duo of Tom and Agnes expand their circle to include Rose and the boy, Henry. Rose's signature qualities, however, also draw Tom's colleaguesand their instabilitiesout of the woodwork, complicating the surprising ease of this new family's growth. With the sheer number of dramatic plot points, the novel should read like pulp, and there are quite a few loose ends to tie up in the conclusion, but Woodroof's light hand and compassion for her characters make the story flow naturally. The question of what makes a family is gently asked and answered throughout. A pleasant read about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances and the optimism that guides them. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Woodroof may be a debut novelist, but she's got a big audience already. As an NPR producer, she's already launched a ten-part NPR.org Monkey See story on the experience of publishing a book. English professor Tom Putnam lives with vulnerable, withdrawn wife Marjory, whose condition has been aggravated by the knowledge that Tom had a fling with a visiting poet years ago. Things start looking up when Marjory warms to Rose, newly hired at the campus bookstore-but then the poet returns to town with the ten-year-old son Tom never knew he had. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Woodruff's charming debut, an affable Shakespeare professor's world is rocked by three unexpected events in quick succession. When Tom Putnam first meets Rose Callahan, who has just been hired at the university bookstore, he's instantly attracted to her. But aside from one brief affair 10 years earlier, Tom has been a devoted husband to fearful, damaged Marjory for more than two decades. Soon after the couple meets Rose, Marjory dies in a car crash, setting both her husband and her mother, Agnes, who has been helping Tom care for Marjory, free. But the biggest change comes when Tom receives a letter from his ex-lover, informing him that he has a 10-year-old son, Henry, who she's sending to live with him. When Henry arrives, he's only 6 and very clearly not Tom's biological child, but Tom quickly learns how little that matters in the face of the love he, Agnes, and Rose come to feel for the boy. A sweet exploration of the way unexpected twists in life can bring surprising rewards.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist