Fans of Mitford, Karon's delightful fictional village in western North Carolina, will be thrilled with this newest installment, which relates an episode she skipped over in her earlier books: Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding. (He proposed at the end of the second Mitford book, and at the beginning of the third, they were already happily married.) Finally, readers get to see the stunned expressions of most Mitford residents when they hear Father Tim has actually popped the question. Readers learn about Cynthia's anxieties over the pending nuptials, share Esther Bolick's delight when Cynthia asks her to bake her famous orange marmalade cake and hum along as the Lord's Chapel parish belts out "Praise my soul the King of Heaven" at the ceremony. And as usual, Karon works in a few snippets of convincing mountain dialect. While Mitford die-hards will welcome this installment, however, the unconverted won't find much to bring them around; one has to already know Karon's eccentric characters, with all their foibles, to fully appreciate the book. Even Mitford devotees may be a touch disappointed that the trademark lessons about Christian faith that Karon weaves so seamlessly into most of her tales are more or less absent from this slim volume. (When they do appear, they stick out, as when Bishop Cullen pointedly discusses the role of sex in Christian marriage.) Still, don't be surprised if Mitford fans begin serving orange marmalade cake at their weddings, and sing hymn 410 at every opportunity. (Apr. 9) Forecast: Fresh from her 2000 Christy and ECPA Gold Medallion Awards for A New Song (book five), Karon keeps rolling along with the Mitford series. This book will no doubt please the thousands of fans who have written to Karon, asking, "Why weren't we invited to the wedding?" Six weeks before its release, the novel was hovering around the #100 position on Amazon. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Father Timothy Kavanagh is about to marry his winsome neighbor Cynthia Coppersmith, and all of Mitford ( A New Song , 1999, etc.) is abuzz. Such goings-on! So many exclamation points! Emma Newland, Father Timothy’s long-suffering secretary at the Chapel of our Lord and Savior, still isn’t quite sure she approves of his late-in-life romance, but she’ll do anything for the man. As will Puny Guthrie, his housekeeper, an energetic country woman who’s equally devoted to him. So much to do! Hessie Mayhew, the busiest of the bees, swipes flowers to decorate the church and altar—with the tacit permission of the understanding townsfolk. Why, they weren’t going to use those masses of hydrangeas anyway! Should Miss Sadie’s bosom friend Louella wear lavender or blue? Should Esther Bolick add buttercream roses to the top of her famous orange marmalade tiered cake? Will Dooley Barlowe, the father’s troubled ward, sing clear and true, or will his adolescent voice crack? Author Karon stirs up a tempest in a very tiny teapot for this joyous occasion as the lion and the lamb, the Presbyterian and Episcopalian, join hands, paws, whatever, to ensure that the great day goes off without a hitch. But when the pews fill and all await the blushing bride—she doesn’t show. What can the matter be? Father Tim dashes home to find Cynthia accidentally locked in the bedroom. In a jiffy, he pops the fallen doorknob back in, frees her, and off they go, scurrying madly to get to the church on time, strewing hair curlers like rose petals along their path. And the ceremony begins . . . . A slight story indeed, filled with pious twittering about the joys and responsibilities of Christian marriage. And that’s not all. Pages and pages are devoted to effusive prayers, hymns, even a word-for-word replay of the wedding ceremony. Not exactly a mainstream book, but fans of the Mitford series won’t mind. Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club featured alternate selection; author tour

The latest installment in Karon's beloved Mitford series is neither a prequel nor a sequel but an intercalation, falling in time after A Light in the Window (1995) and before These High, Green Hills (1996) and focusing on a key event in the life of Father Tim Kavanaugh--his marriage. The book begins with Father Tim's proposal to next-door-neighbor Cynthia and ends with their honeymoon at the bishop's summer cottage in Maine. In between, Mitford's various residents prepare for the big day, each in his or her own way. Dooley, the troubled boy that Father Tim has taken under his wing, isn't quite sure how he will like having Cynthia as part of the family. Hessie Mayhew, Mitford Muse reporter and expert flower-arranger, plans an all-out floral assault on the church. Miss Sadie Baxter and her friend Louella ponder what to wear. The bishop delivers his standard premarital counseling session, even though the bride and groom are well into middle age. And the anticipation surrounding the nuptials causes many of our Mitford friends to reminisce about times in their own lives when they first discovered love. Fans will feel right at home with Karon's gentle humor and her characters' faith-based approach to life. Frothier than the other books in the series, this one goes down as easy as a slice of Esther Bolick's famous three-layer orange marmalade cake. --Mary Ellen Quinn

Karon revisits Mitford for the wedding of Father Tim. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.