Flora's Lot

From Publishers WeeklyThis 12th romance from Britisher Fforde (Restoring Grace) features a heroine as flintily naïve as she is endearing. Upon inheriting 51% of the Stanza and Stanza antique auction business from her uncle Clodio, Flora Stanza sublets her London flat for six months, packs up her pregnant kitty, Imelda, and heads for the countryside hamlet of Bishopsbridge. A chilly welcome and a partial buyout offer await her from cousin Charles, the 49% inheritor who has been running the business for years and is looking to gain operational control for himself and scheming fiancée Annabelle. Despite being banished to a remote cottage and run-ins with Annabelle, Flora decides to stick it out. Acceptance in the local church choir and a growing fascination with the antique business (enhanced by the presence of a number of interesting local men) reinforce her decision. The jejune prose has a schoolgirl quality, but Fforde brings an appealing, bumbling innocence to the age-old formula of a single woman against the vicissitudes of fortune and family, as Flora finds true love on her very own road show. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistFlora, young and pretty, takes up the family country antiques business with the hope of learning a trade and shedding her lackluster London life. She knows nothing about antiques but has inherited 51 percent of the assets. When Flora insists, her uptight cousin Charles and his chilly fiancee, Annabelle, warm up enough to lend her a remote cottage to live in and assign her dogsbody work in the firm. With ready intelligence and a cheerful disposition, Flora soon earns approval from the staff, if not from Charles. In short order, she joins the local choir, gives frumpy Annabelle a makeover, and finds homes for kittens, all the while gaining expertise and developing her eye for good pieces over fakes. She discovers that she has a flair for marketing and the antiques business, but, to her horror, finds herself falling in love with Charles. Readers can only guess what happens next. Popular novelist Fforde's latest, following Restoring Grace (2006), is charming, romantic, and sweet. A pleasure to read. Danise HooverCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved