Clara Garden is thirty-five and single, with no escape in sight. Just jilted by her fiance, who runs off to Las Vegas to marry his receptionist, she's not sure where to turn--until a birthday gift from her mother gives Clara an opportunity to escape from Vancouver Island.

She travels to England for a tranquil summer at Meadow Vale, a farm house deep in the Warwickshire countryside. Determined to put her failed relationship behind her, Clara anticipates history, culture, custard-covered desserts, and possibly romance as she embarks on her first foreign trip. It should be easy: stay in a beautiful house, walk a dog every day, and feed the ponies.

Instead, she finds herself dealing with vaguely disturbing neighbors, a medically fragile Chihuahua, a pregnant pony on the brink of labor, and the fact that the previous three house sitters have met untimely deaths. Drawn into a family feud and local events such as the village fete and a children's riding competition, Clara becomes known to local police and media before the summer's end. Even so, she finds there is life after a broken engagement.

Clara Garden is thirty-five and single, with no escape in sight. Just jilted by her fiance, who runs off to Las Vegas to marry his receptionist, she's not sure where to turn--until a birthday gift from her mother gives Clara an opportunity to escape from Vancouver Island.

She travels to England for a tranquil summer at Meadow Vale, a farm house deep in the Warwickshire countryside. Determined to put her failed relationship behind her, Clara anticipates history, culture, custard-covered desserts, and possibly romance as she embarks on her first foreign trip. It should be easy: stay in a beautiful house, walk a dog every day, and feed the ponies.

Instead, she finds herself dealing with vaguely disturbing neighbors, a medically fragile Chihuahua, a pregnant pony on the brink of labor, and the fact that the previous three house sitters have met untimely deaths. Drawn into a family feud and local events such as the village fete and a children's riding competition, Clara becomes known to local police and media before the summer's end. Even so, she finds there is life after a broken engagement.