Join #1  New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon on a trip to Mitford—a southern village of local characters so heartwarming and hilarious you'll wish you lived right next door. At last, Mitford's rector and lifelong bachelor, Father Tim, has married his talented and vivacious neighbor, Cynthia. Now, of course, they must face love's challenges: new sleeping arrangements for Father Tim's sofa-sized dog, Cynthia's urge to decorate the rectory Italian-villa-style, and the growing pains of the thrown-away boy who's become like a son to the rector. Add a life-changing camping trip, the arrival of the town's first policewoman, and a new computer that requires the patience of a saint, and you know you're in for another engrossing visit to Mitford—the little town that readers everywhere love to call home. The village of Mitford is soothing tonic for a readership that feels starved for community and yearns for clear morals. The recently married Father Tim and his plain-folk neighbors live the best of Christianity in everyday life. Even the rampant gossip in Mitford is the good kind: folks worrying about other folks and everyone minding one another's business out of concern rather than malice. As a result, no one faces a crisis alone. Often the crises are cause for a belly laugh, such as the rectory's new computer system that seems programmed to torment. But just as often the crises have the bite of real-life problems, such as the bloody young girl in shredded clothes, whom Father Tim finds after she was beaten by her drunken father, and the soul-wrenching despair Father Tim feels when he loses a surrogate mother. The heavily quoted scripture gives a day-to-day context for biblical teachings as well as spiritual solace during the sadder days at Mitford. --Gail Hudson "Welcome home Mitford fans . . . to Karon's gift for illuminating the struggles that creep into everyday lives--along with a vividly imagined world." Jan Karon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels in the Mitford series, featuring Episcopal priest Father Tim Kavanagh. She has authored twelve other books, including Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader , and several titles for children. Jan lives in Virginia near the World Heritage site of Jefferson’s Monticello. The Mitford series was inspired by Jan's life in Western North Carolina, where her Mitford Museum now celebrates the world of Mitford and its stories. To reach out to Jan Karon and to learn more about the Mitford Museum, visit www.themitfordmuseum.org. Contents   Title Page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Map   CHAPTER ONE - Through the Hedge CHAPTER TWO - Bread of Angels CHAPTER THREE - Gathered In CHAPTER FOUR - Passing the Torch CHAPTER FIVE - A Close Call CHAPTER SIX - Love Came Down CHAPTER SEVEN - Flying High CHAPTER EIGHT - Serious about Fun CHAPTER NINE - Locked Gates CHAPTER TEN - The Cave CHAPTER ELEVEN - Darkness into Light CHAPTER TWELVE - Lace CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Homecoming CHAPTER FOURTEEN - The One for the Job CHAPTER FIFTEEN - And Many More CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Loving Back CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Sing On! CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Every Trembling Heart CHAPTER NINETEEN - Starting Over CHAPTER TWENTY - Send Me CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - These High, Green Hills   Teaser Chapter: Out of Canaan Sneak Peek: Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good   PENGUIN BOOKS PENGUING BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.; Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.); Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England; Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd); Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd); Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, I 1 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi- 110 017, India; Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd); Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa   Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England   First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. 1996 Published in Penguin Books 1997   Copyright © Jan Karon, 1996 All rights reserved   Illustrations by Donna Kae Nelson   Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. English translation copyright © 1954 by Harper and Brothers. Copyright renewed 1982 by Helen S. Doberstein.   PUBLISHER’S NOTE This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, eve