Stepheny Houghtlin, Rocky Mount, NC Author’s Book, Would Make a Great Last Minute Gift for Christmas at $3.99 Amazon Price

I wrote this book in 2011 trying out the new e-book world. An addicted reader myself, and a member of two book clubs, it was an exciting experience the first time I was asked to speak at a book club. I got better at it as those invitations continued. Below is the book blurb. I hope knowing this much of the story is of interest and you will want to read it. A gardener myself and visiting Burford in the Cotswolds, the research for the story was great fun. Published this long ago, Amazon has reduced the price. A 3rd novel will be out in 2021 that revisits Burford and characters come forth with a major role to play in the 2nd half of the book. Repairers of the Breach was written with my Main Street Rocky Mount glasses on. You will recognize the language of Main Street. Read Greening of a Heart first.

Greening of a Heart Kindle Edition
by Stepheny Houghtlin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars
Kindle
$3.99

When the Bishop insists that Martin Winchester take a sabbatical from his parish to restore his depleted energy and regain his spiritual focus, his wife Hannah is left on her own for the first time in years. Her new found freedom gives her an opportunity to reflect on her life. Retreating into the newly-renovated vicarage garden in the Cotswold’s village of Burford, Hannah not only wants to escape the demands of her role as the vicar’s wife, but to reinvent herself. Lives begin to change after Henry Bernard arrives in Burford to solve a family mystery. Not only Henry, but a young artist, an electrician and his entrepreneur wife, the new owners of the Bay Tree Inn, and a dying spinster, all embark with Hannah on an unforgettable summer as their lives intertwine in unforeseen ways. If you like the novels of Rosamunde Pilcher (The Shell Seekers, September) you will enjoy Greening of a Heart.

One of the Amazon reviews: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Gentle, but Meaningful Read

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2012Verified Purchase

Greening of a Heart by Stepheny Houghtlin is a delightful novel, with lovely descriptions of gardens, a multitude of realistically drawn, yet likeable characters, and themes of spiritual and secular significance. Hannah Winchester, the wife of a vicar who is on sabbatical, seizes the opportunity to step outside her circumscribed life and make new friends without abandoning the old. Many, such as Henry Bernard, a horticulturist, are younger than Hannah. Others, such as Tom Osborne, an electrician, and his wife Eleanor, a shop owner, are also outside Hannah’s typical social circle. Yet as Hannah absorbs these characters into her own life, they are absorbed into each other’s lives and all are transformed, in large measure because of the transformation of Hannah’s garden. And what a beautiful vicarage garden it is, set in the picturesque Cotswold village of Burford.
In addition to friendship, the book sensitively explores familial relationships, aging, and self-awareness, all with an underlying element of mystery. Do read this book. You will feel welcome in its pages and your spirit will be refreshed.