Windfallen (U)

Jojo Moyes, the heir apparent to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher, has a gift for skillfully capturing the passion and dreams of contemporary women. In this grippingly poignant novel, Moyes tells the story of two women whose lives are intertwined because of a beautiful house set on the cliffs high above the sea. Merham is a well-ordered seaside town, the kind of village in which everyone knows her place -- and those who don't are promptly put in it. Lottie Swift, a Londoner by birth, loves Merham, while her best friend, Celia, chafes against its constraints. When a group of bohe-mians takes over Arcadia, a stark yet breathtaking art deco house on the seafront, the young women are drawn to the temptations offered there. And their actions set off a chain of events that will have longstanding consequences for all concerned. Years later Daisy Parsons arrives to give the now-deserted house a makeover for its new owner. Daisy, who is fleeing a broken relationship, finds refuge at Arcadia, and something more -- a new beginning. And surprisingly, des-tiny seems once again to take a hand. Vivid and absorbing, Windfallen will captivate readers who fell in love with Jojo Moyes's first novel, Sheltering Rain, and is sure to steal the hearts of a new generation of women everywhere.