"Combines two wonderful romances and country music"

This is a wonderful story which is actually two stories in one, about a girl from Maine, Lindsey Briggs, who literally leaves her fiance at the church (OK, she does go to the church and explains things to him) and goes off to Nashville to seek fame and fortune as a songwriter. Meanwhile she becomes part of a small group who finds some success. They get a gig at the Blue Bird Cafe (very famous, real venue in Nashville) where they meet Ben McBride, a famous country singer now pretty much in retirement who happened to serve in WWII alongside Lindsey's grandfather.

There are two romances here -- one between Lindsey and Ben's attorney, Michael and one from the late 1940s between Ben and Lindsey's great-aunt, Lily. This is a wonderful story for everyone who loves a good romantic story and a doubly wonderful story for anyone who loves a good romantic story AND country music. One of my favorite country/Americana singers, Iris Dement, is mentioned several times. The writing is crisp and clean, the story compelling, and the setting described so that you not only want to book a flight to Nashville but also want to visit Edens Ridge in Maine. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Maudeen Wachsmith
Posted June 22, 2002

Summary

The Road to Eden's Ridge is a love story evocative of The Bridges of Madison County. Less than an hour before her wedding, Lindsey Briggs stands in her bedroom in a Maine farmhouse and decides to call off the wedding and pursue her musical dreams in Nashville, Tennessee. When she sings at the Bluebird Caf , she meets Ben McBride, a country-singing legend and old army buddy of her grandfather. The threat of falling in love with McBride's young lawyer makes Lindsey flee back to Maine where she learns of the love years earlier between Ben and her grandmother's sister Lily and the truth about her own past. The book has been optioned for film by Lindsay Doran, producer of Dead Again and Sense and Sensibility, who says, "If a book is supposed to be a love story, I ask myself if I sob big sobs. When I read The Road to Eden's Ridge, I sob big sobs."