Wild Designs

Althea Farraday is a thirty-eight-year-old divorced mother of three who's got a teenage son who's a Buddhist, a hypercritical sister who knows how to push all her buttons, a job on the endangered species list, and a love life to match. Just as she's settling in to a comfortable level of chaos, a near-perfect man enters her life. Equipped to steal her heart and help turn her passion for designing gardens into a new career, Patrick Donahugh may be too good to be true. Amid wild roses, California poppies, scarlet flax, sweet rocket, love-in-mist, and, of course, plenty of dirt, Wild Designs is a refreshingly honest and funny read that celebrates the almost-ready-to-bloom aspect of all our lives.

A domestic comedy on Althea Farraday, an English divorcee with three children who loses her job. Every cloud has a silver lining and Althea's has two. She discovers she can make a living from gardening,until then only a hobby, and an acquaintance becomes so impressed by her he gives up his previous relationship to devote himself to Althea.

Kirkus Reviews

British writer Fforde (The Rose Revived, 1996) returns, this time exhibiting a spirited sense of humor, a light touch, and a real sense of how families work.

Althea Farraday is, at 40, perfectly content with her life. She has three good-natured teenagers, an ex-husband she was more than glad to say good-bye to, a lovely house in the countryside with plenty of space to garden (her passion), and a pleasant job at a local school. Her life is thrown into an uproar, however, when in rapid succession (1) she loses her job, (2) Frederick—the ex—decides he just might want her back, (3) her loving yet high- maintenance younger sister announces that she's pregnant, (4) she meets an immensely attractive (and already involved) architect named Patrick, and (5) she wins a contest to create her dream garden at the famous Chelsea Flower Show. To Althea's surprise, not long after she meets Patrick, his secretary/lover Topaz, a twentysomething with an aerobicized body and expensive tastes, runs off with Frederick, leaving Patrick suddenly single. Then, to Althea's additional surprise, Patrick announces that he finds her as fascinating as she finds him. But consumed with her children and not wanting them to be upset by a new man's appearance in their life, and consumed also with her money problems and with the upcoming Chelsea show, Althea turns a blind eye to Patrick's affections (with one glaring exception—a night of passion that she can't seem to forget). After much interfering by those who love her most—including her three spirited kids—she manages to iron out the kinks in her life to everyone's satisfaction.

Althea, the womanizing Frederick, the charming Patrick, the shallow Topaz, and the snobbish but warmhearted Juno, not to mention Althea's children (the eldest of whom is a Buddhist), are all cleverly, endearingly, and realistically rendered. Altogether, a considerable improvement over the author's debut.

From: http://www.katiefforde.com/books/info/?e=9780099446675&t=Wild-Designs Althea is the mother of three strong-minded children - one of whom is a Buddhist - and owner of a finicky dog named Bozo. Saddled with too large a house (albeit in a beautiful Cotswold village), worrisome mortgage payments, a bossy younger sister and irksome ex-husband, Althea still manages to muddle through life comfortably enough. Until she loses her job. Seeking solace in her borrowed greenhouse, Althea decides to develop her passion for gardening. And when she wins the opportunity to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show with the unexpected help of gorgeous architect Patrick Donahugh, it looks as though Althea may have unearthed a new man as well as a new career... A domestic comedy on Althea Farraday, an English divorcee with three children who loses her job. Every cloud has a silver lining and Althea's has two. She discovers she can make a living from gardening, until then only a hobby, and a homosexual acquaintance becomes so impressed by her he gives up men to devote himself to Althea Althea, who is divorced and has three children, a bossy dog, a know-it-all younger sister and no love life, loses her job and starts a gardening business that leads her to fall for a married man