May 16

At Home in Mitford
By Jan Karon

Book 1 in the Mitford series beautifully sets the stage for a series of novels set in a small North Carolina town by introducing the heartwarming (and sometimes cantankerous) characters who populate the fictional town: real people with real problems.

Father Tim Kavanaugh is the 62-year-old priest of the local Episcopal church and he seeks, with the Lord's help, to meet the needs of the many folks who come his way.  While he is a bachelor, he has lots of company, thanks to a large stray dog and a little boy who eventually come to make their home with Father Tim.  He also gets lots of advice from the church secretary Emma Garrett and plenty of good cooking from his young housekeeper, but he finds the advances of a wealthy widowed parishioner a bit more than he can manage.  He maintains warm relationships with the town's other clergymen and the reader can only wish for such a great place to live and raise children - but the author is realistic, too, and there are many people with problems.  Even a small town like Mitford has those who face homelessness and alcoholism.  And Father Tim, a diabetic, is constantly facing the temptations of the sweet desserts that the church ladies bake for their bachelor priest.

I read this novel as an audiobook.  Gifted narrator/actor John McDonough really brings each character to life.