The Lost Girls of Devon, Barbara O'Neal

The Lost Girls of Devon is a feel-good story written by an excellent author, Barbara O'Neal. Set in Axestowe, England, we follow four generations of women in the Fairchild family.

Lillian, the matriarch, who later in life (love that - she was in her 40s) became a celebrated author of mystery books and, unfortunately, is in the beginning stages of dementia.

Poppy, think hippie sunshine chick, is Lillian's only child and has returned to Axestowe after leaving her daughter to Lillian's care to find herself.

Zoe, Poppy's daughter, who Lillian raised since she was 7, now has a 15-year-old child of her own, lives in New Mexico, is divorced, and is disinterested in other relationships; until she runs into her old fling in Axestowe.

Isabel, Zoe's daughter, holds a devastating secret that has torn her apart.

The disappearance of Zoe's childhood friend, Diana, brings the women all under one roof. There are so many beautiful threads to follow in this story of love, forgiveness, and new beginnings, that it is hard to put them all in one review. Suffice it to say, each of the women answers the other's need for closure, understanding, and self-healing.

While not my favorite O'Neal book (if you haven't read When We Believed in Mermaids - do it!), it is still great. (Mermaids just hit my personal heartstring.) The Lost Girls of Devon is totally worth the read and will leave you with a beautiful sense of female dynamics within the family.