Father Tim Kavanagh’s adopted son, Dooley, is finally graduating from veterinary school. He (and Miss Sadie’s trust settled on Dooley) has purchased Meadowgate Farm and its accompanying clinic from retiring Mitford veterinarian Hal Owen. You see, Dooley has plans. He’s going to raise cattle (a few, anyway) on the farm, as he sets up shop as Mitford’s new vet. But that’s not his only plan.

After an adversarial childhood standoff that grew into a tender friendship, an honest courtship, and then years of long-distance phone calls and weekend visits with Lace Harper, the two are finally tying the Big Knot. Adopted out of damaging childhood traumas into the loving families of the Kavanaghs and the Harpers, Dooley and Lace have had more to work through than the average couple. But they have made it through…and the wedding is on the horizon.

"Choose a cup of your favorite tea and your most comfortable chair, and settle in with the Mitford characters, new and old, whom we’ve all come to love as you open COME RAIN OR COME SHINE. Jan Karon has done it again."

And what a wedding it is to be! Although Father Tim would have liked nothing more than to preside over a ceremony at Lord’s Chapel, his former church with the beautiful rose garden, and although Doc Hoppy and Olivia Harper have offered to pay for a big and beautiful event complete with honeymoon, Dooley and Lace have decided on what they believe will be a simple outdoor wedding at Meadowgate Farm.

Naturally, anyone who has never planned a wedding always thinks it’s going to be simpler than it actually turns out to be. And so the challenges, and the hard work, begin. The farm has to be made habitable for the new heifers and the fences secure. Because guests won’t want to wade through mud, grass seed has to be sown. The invitation list --- even though some of the guests aren’t speaking to each other --- must be compiled and invitations sent. The potluck food will arrive, but what about dishes to serve it on? And Lace’s problem, thus far without a solution: a wedding gown.

Most of all, Jack Tyler. What will happen with him? Dooley and Lace don’t know. So they work and pray, and they wait and hope. Lace, an accomplished artist, paints. Dooley works with the cattle and opens the clinic. And they depend on the fact that, whatever happens, they’ll indeed be married…come rain or come shine.

It's hard for a review to capture the magic of Jan Karon’s writing and of the characters readers have taken for their own since the first Mitford book was published. But the magic is there. It’s apparent in the love between Dooley and Lace, polished by years of faithfully waiting and working. It’s visible in the care and commitment shown by a community that provides and helps as a young couple begins a new life. It’s seen by the reader on every page of COME RAIN OR COME SHINE as hearts are connected and a new family is built…all on a lovely wedding day.

My husband mentioned one day that the reason Karon’s books are so wonderful is that the Mitford characters become beloved friends. When the reader again enters the pages of her novels, it’s to reengage with loved ones after a long absence. (Okay, it may not be that long of an absence, but it always feels like it is when one is waiting for a new Mitford book!) The delightful reconnections you’ll experience will both gladden your heart and satisfy your soul. Karon doesn’t put a foot wrong as she leads us through the preparations for and beginning of Dooley and Lace’s new life and work together.

Choose a cup of your favorite tea and your most comfortable chair, and settle in with the Mitford characters, new and old, whom we’ve all come to love as you open COME RAIN OR COME SHINE. Jan Karon has done it again.