Making Marion: Where’s Robin Hood When You Need Him?

Marion Miller just wants directions to the Sherwood Forest visitor center, but ends up working behind the counter at the Peace and Pigs Holiday Park in Nottingham, England. On the run from an engagement she doesn’t want and in search of secrets her long-dead father kept buried, Marion ends up staying at the Peace and Pigs and discovering more than she had bargained for. There’s Scarlett, campground owner and purveyor of love and acceptance; her troubled daughter, Grace, whose rebellious attitude masks a stunning gift; Scarlett’s foster daughter Valerie, who is “a little different”; Jake, whose pleasant demeanor may be a ruse; and Reuben, heir to Hatherstone Hall and Marion’s cooking teacher. A host of other quirky characters also populate this delightful novel, which will have readers giggling, sobbing, and rooting for Marion as she faces down her wretched past and moves forward in fits, starts, and belly laughs. This is one of the best inspirational novels of the season, a marvelous debut by a British author to watch. (July)