Fathers of Edenville is a debut novel. The book includes adultery and a murder. Relationships are complex and complicated. The reasons for the murder are told from various character's perspectives.

Corrine Ardoin brings a town and its characters to life with this wonderful story. The characters are rich and multi-layered and I was hooked from the start. I found myself reading until late into the night. Loved this book. Recommended.
Thanks to the publisher Black Rose Writing and NetGalley for the ARC

Fathers of Edenville by Corrine Ardoin, a small town love story. Intertwined lives of childhood friends and lovers. Nosy, gossipy residents and how our past ultimately catches up to us. How our families past define our future and how when you fall in love no one but that one special person will do even if it means you are alone forever. Rich, deep characters that you get so caught up in their lives that you find yourself wondering what's next when you have to lay down your book eagerly awaiting the time when you can pick it back up and continue on with their story.

Fortuitous [Forty or Fort Sumner or worse] Sumner and his wife Sylvia [Cadwallader] are only two of the characters in this twisted tale which takes place in a very small town with muddy, puddled roads. Mistaken Inferences are drawn from current actions; there's death and there's drinking. There's Jim [Tucker James Stewart] who wants to be called Tucker, because there's Jim Hart [a newspaper employee and sometime reporter] who was Sylvia's first love.

Why, you may ask, aren't Jim and Sylvia married to each other? Because Aunt Justice [who raised Sylvia when her mother was dead and her father was almost dead] approved of Forty. That's why.

You might need a flow chart to keep all the names and relationships straight, because many of the townspeople had at least two names. But, in the end, this is a good read.

I read this EARC courtesy of BlackRose Writing and NetGalley. pub date 06/15/20