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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Readers of the nine bestselling Mitford novels have been captivated by Jan Karon’s “gift for illuminating the struggles that creep into everyday lives—along with a vividly imagined world” (People). They learned quickly that “after you’ve spent time in Mitford, you’ll want to come back” (Chicago Tribune). Millions eagerly awaited the publication of each novel, relishing the story of the bookish and bighearted Episcopal priest and the extraordinary fullness of his seemingly ordinary life.
Now, Jan Karon enchants us with the story of the newly retired priest’s spur-of-the-moment adventure. For the first time in decades, Father Tim returns to his birthplace, Holly Springs, Mississippi, in response to a mysterious, unsigned note saying simply: “Come home.” Little does he know how much these two words will change his life. A story of long-buried secrets, forgiveness, and the wonder of discovering new people, places, and depth of feeling, Home to Holly Springs will enthrall new readers and longtime fans alike. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Jan Karon | | Hardcover: | 368 pages | | Publisher: | Viking Adult | | Publication Date: | October 30, 2007 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0670018252 | | Product Length: | 9.3 inches | | Product Width: | 6.29 inches | | Product Height: | 1.19 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.37 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.1 inches | | Package Width: | 6.2 inches | | Package Height: | 1.1 inches | | Package Weight: | 2.95 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 201 reviews |
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| | Features | ISBN13: 9780670018253Condition: NewNotes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 201 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
182 of 189 found the following review helpful:
 This might be my most favorite Father Tim story to date Oct 27, 2007
By Terry Mathews
I was so happy to hear that Jan Karon was writing about Father Tim's early life. After all, he came to us fully grown, without much back story.
Enjoying retirement and his life in Mitford, North Carolina, Father Tim receives a letter postmarked from his home town. The letter contains only two words: Come home.
Although it's been 38 years since he was in Holly Springs, Father Tim and his loyal canine companion Barnabus set out from Mitford, to the small Mississippi town of his childhood.
The book is lovely. Like the Southern town in the title, the story moves along at its own pace and we're the better for it. Getting to know the people from Father Tim's home town is both satisfying and fulfilling. I fell in love with each one.
Karon is a great storyteller and a keen observer of human nature. As each scene plays out, we get the feeling that Father Tim is wrapping up a lot of unfinished business.
We meet his first love. We learn why there was so much friction between Father Tim and his father. We learn why Father Tim's mother was sad. We learn how Tim found his way to the priesthood.
When the "big reveal" comes, and Father Tim learns the purpose behind the letter, the emotions of all the parties just leap off the page and into your heart. I could see the sitting room in Peggy's house and I could taste the homemade lemonade she served Father Tim as she poured her heart out. Some professional reviewers have chastised Karon for a "Hollywood" ending. To me, it played out perfectly.
Karon is a master of sweet, gentle fiction and she is on top of her game here.
I will be re-reading "Home to Holly Springs" again soon. It's that good.
Enjoy.
51 of 52 found the following review helpful:
Like You Never Left---Like You've Always Been Friends Oct 31, 2007
By rodboomboom
Just as Father Tim had been away from Holly Springs for nearly 40 years and yet when he returns "it's like he never left," so likewise those of us who have read many of Karon's books have missed the time in Mitford with her, this new series brings us instantly back home to her comfortable style and easy prose. The mystery of a two-word letter for him to "come home" unfolds linked with flashbacks into his past which provide the historical setting. In this are such as suspected murder, rape and mysterious disappearance of family and friends, as well as inter-family spiritual matters between Baptists and Episcopalian.
It's much like her Mitford series with joke tellers, and Fr.Tim making new acquaintances easily as well as reacquainting with past ones. Much to this reviewer's delight is her continued emphasis of the faith which easily intensifies in such a series focused around the developing life of this Episcopalian priest.
However, even if the reader is not into this Christian side of things, there is so much other great veins running through this, such as human compassion for those of all color and race.
Easily one can see possible projections of this series in return visits to Mississippi as well as development of this new set of characters that were not in sight in Mitford. Great to see the inclusion of many of Mitford cast which hopefully and likely will continue in this one. So we have the new, exciting series to wait and see where our wordsmith superb Karon will be leading us.
35 of 38 found the following review helpful:
Definitely a keeper! Nov 03, 2007
By Susan Snodgrass
"Book Lover"
I was afraid that when Ms. Karon finished the Mitford books and decided to explore Father Tim's early life that I would not like it because she had left Mitford behind. I was mistaken in my presumption. I quickly learned that, as Father Tim says in this book: "Home is not Mitford. Home is not Holly Springs. Home is where Cynthia and family are." To me, home is where Father Tim is. Tim is his usual warm and wonderful self in this book. He never meets a stranger and always has a kind and loving word for everyone. When I read Karon's books, it makes me want to be a better Christian. I want to go to Father Tim's church, hear him preach and have him pray for me. Karon explores Father Tim's boyhood and growing up years. My heart cried for him when his father treated him so badly. I loved Father Tim's mother and I think he got his generous soul from her. I love how he handled the big reveal hinted at in the two word letter that sent him to Holly Springs. I don't think we have seen the last of Holly Springs. I laughed and cried and was blessed by this book, just as I was at all 9 Mitford books and the companion volumes. There is a lot of sadness and pain in this book, but there is also tremendous joy and great love. I would have like to have seen more of Cynthia and Dooley, but it was such a wonderful journey we take with Father Tim. There are great characters in Holly Springs, too. My favorite is Mitford, though, I must confess. I just returned today from Blowing Rock, NC, where Karon lived when writing many of the Mitford books and which is believed to be the town she modeled Mitford after. It is a lovely little village and I feel like I'm maybe feeling a little bit of Mitford when I visit as I have done on many occasions. This is simply a wonderful and charming book and I look forward to more of Father Tim's life. I only wish she wrote faster! I read the book and then I was disappointed because I was finished and would have to wait for another one!
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Folks, this ain't Mitford! Nov 12, 2007
By Christina Lockstein
"Christy's Book Blog"
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon is the first book in the Father Tim series. This book picks up shortly after the last Mitford book, Light From Heaven. Seventy year old Father Tim Kavanaugh has received a mysterious letter from his childhood home of Holly Springs, Mississippi saying simply: Come home. He left 38 years ago in anger and pain, but the letter haunts him and puts him on a 600 mile road trip to solve the mystery of the letter and bring healing to life-long wounds. First off, I've read a few reviews trashing this book for its coincidences and other trivial complaints, but what the readers are really upset about is that this isn't a Mitford book. While Cynthia and Dooley make appearances, this book is really about Father Tim becoming reconciled to his past. The storytelling is quite different than the Mitford books: in depth character study as opposed to sweet hometown dramedy. There are still quirky characters galore and Tim's honest faith and belief in the Lord. I really enjoyed reading this book. The dialog is terrific and perfect for the slow as molasses Southern feel of the book. Anyone who has read the Mitford series is familiar with Tim's anger toward his father. Here we begin to understand why Tim is so angry, but also why his father was who he was. Many mysteries are cleared up, but many more opportunities for storylines are opened. Yes, the coincidences run heavy, but God does tend to work that way sometimes. I was able to take all of them except for the final one involving Tommy Noles. My only other complaint: why on earth did Karon feel the need to give two people in Tim's past the same first name?? Two Peggy's makes for some awkward reading on occasion. There is one humorous editing error: Instead of saying that Cynthia was cleared to drive, it reads that she was clear to drink, making the rest of the sentence about her driving all over Memphis worth an unintentional giggle. Read this book with an open mind and don't expect Mitford. You won't be disappointed.
25 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 Tedious and poorly edited, but still a look at our old friend Father Tim Feb 04, 2008
By Gen of North Coast Gardening
I have been a huge fan of the Mitford books since the first one came out. I even have the cookbook and bedside reader and read them often! So I bought this book with high hopes and great relief that I didn't have to say goodbye to my old friend so soon after all.
Unfortunately, the way that Karon wrapped up every single solitary thing in Father Tim's past so miraculously and unimaginatively, made me wish that she'd left us with the complex, good, struggling man that we love so dearly from her past books.
In addition, the writing was downright clunky for most of the book. She made really unclear and jolting transitions between past and future, so that I'd find myself going back a paragraph and reading more slowly to see if I had missed some kind of transition. Every time she went from past to future I was pulled out of the story because the transitions were confusing or nonexistent, and she went in and out of the past every other page in some parts.
I think the problem might be poor editing? Had a good third to half of the first half of the book been cut or filled with some real substance instead of tediously written detail, the book would have been a lot better.
And to get back to the miraculous happenings that allowed him to clear up every single thing in his past on one trip, I want to add a disclaimer. I like happy endings. I don't mind stretching my imagination to believe that wonderful and coincidental things happen so that the main character can be happy. But Karon stretched it WAY past the point of believability.
I was really disappointed in this latest from her. I will certainly buy the next one, but perhaps I will wait for the paperback.
See all 201 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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