ONCE IN A BLUE MOON LODGE (Lorna Landvik)

Lorna Landvick is a wonderful author with an outlook and imagination that is slightly off-kilter.  This sequel to Patty Jane's House of Curl is, I think, just as wonderful a the original.  Patty Jane is packing up shop, closing the House of Curl and moving on with her life with both her brain-damaged husband and her lover in tow.  When her daughter, Nora, becomes pregnant (with twins) just before meeting the man of her dreams, life presents new challenges.  After a chance encounter with a free-spirited old woman, Nora decides to buy and renovate the Once in a Blue Moon Lodge, which becomes the new gathering place for family and new and old friends.  Landvik takes us on a years-long journey through the adventures of Patty Jane and Nora's family, including births, marriages, and tragic losses.  If you love Landvik (or even if you've never read her imaginative novels, this is a must read.  You'll be swept away into the Minnesota countryside and find yourself very reluctant to return to reality at the end!