Stand by Your Man

I must have read this the first time when my children were small and I related in an immediate way to the humorous (but fairly realistic) portrayal of toddlers'/preschoolers' little quirks. Even now, this made me smile a lot and the reference to 'Thomas the Incredibly Boring Tank Engine' made me laugh out loud. I appreciated Alice and Molly being quietly excellent at their jobs, and all the various romances were very sweet.

Alice Mayhew is another one of Gil McNeil's main characters who all seem to have the same personality and single-mother situation and a pretty supportive network of friends and family, with one or two sour apples in the batch. To be fair, though, three of the five Gil McNeil books I've now read are a trilogy. Anyway, it doesn't matter really, because I've always greatly enjoyed the quirky smarts, independence and loyalty of the author's main characters, and even though her plots seem to kind of meander around sometimes like a lazy creek, and nothing earth-shattering seems to happen, by the end of the book you've realized that everything that has happened is just as important as it needs to be, and our heroine, whom we've become quite show more fond of along the way, has done a rather stand-up job of fashioning a very stable and enjoyable life for herself and her child, and what more can you reasonably ask than that? show less

Alice Mayhew is a part-time architect and single parent for Alfie. Alfie is young, rambunctious and his father is more noted by his absence than presence. She finds herself volunteered to design a garden in her village. Something she's never done before and finds herself attracted to one of the men involved. Her best friend Molly O'Brien is finding her daughter Lily a conundrum, her daughter likes domesticity, and while she's four that's amusing she's wondering where she went wrong and if she can get it to rub off on her husband Matt. Lola Barker is new to the village and determined to make waves, and doesn't care how she manages to get her own way but determined that she will.

It's a humorous slice of life, the characters are quite real show more and flawed and fun and it's a fun read. show less

I really enjoyed this delightful book about gardening, community life, marriage, children, separation and the general ups and downs of mundane life - the author has captured the essence and put it down on paper quickly before it gets away. Nothing difficult or challenging here, not for everyone but irresistible