Jeffrey County

From Library Journal Amy Barnett, a young widow with two small children, lives on the family farm near Jeffrey, Virginia. Blanche Hunter, an unmarried woman fast approaching middle age, teaches in the Jeffrey Elementary School. When two eligible bachelors come to Jeffrey, both Amy and Blanche recognize their prospects and seize the opportunity, each in her own way. The surface calm of the community is hardly ruffled by the flurry of activity among its inhabitants as the women choose up sides and the courtship process begins. Ford tells her story with a perfect combination of poignancy and good humor, treating personal eccentricities gently, while developing her characters fully. Readers will feel that they have known Jeffrey and its residents for years. Recommended. Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.