Akron Public Library

After five hectic years of retirement from Lord's Chapel, Father Tim Kavanagh and his wife, Cynthia, return to Mitford from a so-called pleasure trip to the land of his Irish ancestors. While he is glad to be at home in Mitford, something is definitely missing from Father Tim's life: a pulpit. His adopted son, Dooley, wrestles with his own passion--for the beautiful and gifted Lace Turner and his vision to become a successful country vet. Dooley's...

The fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine, and the machinations of an aristocratic villian.

In the first of the Father Tim novels, Karon enchants with a story of the newly retired priests spur-of-the-moment adventure. For the first time in decades, Father Tim returns to his birthplace, Holly Springs, Mississippi, in response to a mysterious, unsigned note saying simply: "Come home."

"Two lifelong friends, a bartender and a pastor, decide to trade places the week before Christmas and end up finding love along the way in this delightful novel from the queen of holiday stories, #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber. Peter Rhinehart and Hank Meyer are best friends, but their lives couldn't be more different. Peter is a local pastor who is dedicated to his community. He spends his time visiting the flock, attending...

"Shay Benson adored her younger brother, Caden, and that got her into trouble. When he owed money, Shay realized she would do anything to help him avoid the men who were threatening him, and she crossed lines she never should have crossed. Now, determined to start fresh, she finds herself in search of a place to stay and wanders into a church to escape from the cold. Pastor Drew Douglas adored his wife. But when he lost her, it was all he could do...

"There was a time when the world was sweeter... when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats. Every April, when the wind smells of both the sea and lilacs, Landon Carter remembers 1958, his last year at Beaufort High. Landon had dated a girl or two, and even once sworn that he'd been in love. Certainly the last person he thought he'd fall for was Jamie, the shy, almost ethereal daughter of the town's Baptist minister......

Set in the 1890s in Moonstone, a fictional place supposedly located in Colorado, The Song of the Lark is the self-portrait of an artist in the making. The story revolves around an ambitious young heroine, Thea Kronborg, who leaves her hometown to go to the big city to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous opera star. The novel captures Thea's independent-mindedness, her strong work ethic, and her ascent to her highest achievement. At each step along...

The final volume in the "Mitford Years" series finds Father Tim contemplating the revival of a remote mountaintop church, a challenge he hopes will be his ultimate calling, but fears will be an impossible task.

Fourth in the Barsetshire Chronicles, FRAMLEY PARSONAGE was published in 1860. In it the values of a Victorian gentleman, the young clergyman Mark Robarts, are put to the test. Like much fiction of 19th century England, FRAMLEY PARSONAGE concerns property, status, family and the conventions. In it Trollope captures the essence of Victorian England. The Barsetshire Chronicles include THE WARDEN, BARCHESTER TOWERS, DOCTOR THORNE, FRAMLEY PARSONAGE,...

Vicar has an embarrassing condition; Back-to-Front Dyslexia. Vicar must walk backwards to be sure of talking forward.