Here’s the set-up:

 

Disfigured by the blow of an abusive husband, and suffering her entire life with severe social anxiety disorder, the widow Mary McAllister spends almost sixty years secluded in a white marble mansion overlooking the town of Mill River, Vermont. Her links to the outside world are few: the mail, the media, an elderly priest with a guilty habit of pilfering spoons, and a bedroom window with a view of the town below.Most longtime residents of Mill River consider the marble house and its occupant peculiar, though insignificant, fixtures. An arsonist, a covetous nurse, and the endearing village idiot are among the few who have ever seen Mary. Newcomers to Mill River–a police officer and his daughter and a new fourth grade teacher–are also curious about the reclusive old woman. But only Father Michael O’Brien knows Mary and the secret she keeps–one that, once revealed, will change all of their lives forever.

“Maeve Binchy fans, pay attention: Darcie Chan is your stateside solution….  

The reader settles into the ebb and flow of life in Chan’s Mill River easily, even as the author toggles between past events and the present. While Chan moves the story along skillfully, the greatest strength of The Mill River Recluse is its characters. Chan’s local citizens (both past and present) are lovingly drawn and immediately recognizable. As the plot unfolds, you come to know and understand her heroes (villains, too) in a most natural way.A feel-good story that never turns saccharine, The Mill River Recluse will not disappoint. Indeed, as the last paragraphs close, the reader wants nothing more than just to spend a few more pages in Chan’s Mill River.”

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