A Cornucopia of Stories

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

I love autumn, especially in Nova Scotia! There is something magical about this beautiful season! I enjoy the smell of leaves, bright colours, crisp air, apple cider, and pumpkin spice latte. For many of us the autumn is a transition time from summer to winter: we slowly exchange our summer wardrobe for warmer clothes and wait for shorter days and longer nights. For others, the beginning of fall signals a fresh start, a new school year. For some, apple picking season begins, and many of us spend weekends at local orchards.

We compiled a list of novels set in autumn where characters are searching for answers in autumn in their lives.

October by Richard B. Wright

"Visiting his gravely ill daughter, James Hillyer encounters by chance Gabriel Fontaine, whom he met as a boy while on holiday in Gaspé. At the time, the boys had competed for the love of a French-Canadian girl from the village. Now, over six decades later and faced with the terrible possibility of outliving his own daughter, James is asked by Gabriel to accompany him on a final, unthinkable journey."

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

"In 1913 a tiny orphan girl arrives alone on the shores of colonial Australia from England. Struck by pity, the dock master and his wife take her in and raise her as their own. On her 21st birthday, they finally reveal to her true origins. Suddenly troubled by her missing history, she returns to her country of origin, hoping to trace her roots. She parses together some of her hidden past but dies before she can learn the complete story. Years later, her young granddaughter Cassandra pieces together the final missing parts of the puzzle."

The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford

“A sportswriter and a real estate agent, husband and father –Frank Bascombe has been many things to many people. His uncertain youth behind him, we follow him through three days during the autumn of 2000, when his trade as a realtor on the Jersey Shore is thriving. But as a presidential election hangs in the balance, and a postnuclear-family Thanksgiving looms before him, Frank discovers that what he terms “the Permanent Period” is fraught with unforeseen perils.”

Grace In Autumn by Lori Copeland and Angela Hunt

“Authors Lori Copeland and Angela Hunt revisit the Island of Heavenly Daze in the second book of the highly acclaimed series about a small town where angelic intervention is commonplace and the Thanksgiving feast a community affair.”

Cloud Nine by Luanne Rice

“One of Luanne Rice’s most emotionally powerful novels, Cloud Nine tells the story of Sarah Talbot, a cancer survivor who beats the odds and vows to make the most of her second chance at life. It is a new beginning for Sarah - a fresh start at life that few are given. It is a time to take roads she always passed by, to experience a world she'd all too often watched from the sidelines.”

October Fest (Murder - by - Month mystery) by Jess Lourey

“Politics can be dirty, but with Battle Lake, Minnesota, on your campaign trail, they can be lethal. A series of murders, beginning with the untimely death of blogging pundit Bob Webber, plagues the little town. Part-time librarian, part-time reporter for the Battle Lake Recall, and part-time amateur sleuth, Mira James is determined to find the killer.”

November 22, 1963 by Adam Braver

"It begins that morning, with Jackie Kennedy in a Fort Worth hotel, about to leave for Dallas. Interwoven throughout are stories of real people intimately connected with that day: a man who shares cigarettes with the First Lady outside the trauma room; a motorcycle policeman flanking the entourage; Abe Zabruder, who caught the assassination on film."

Dear Reader, this magical season will be over soon, let’s bundle up and embrace the beauty of the autumn with a good book.