To be where you are (by Jan Karon)

(Amazon UK link)

I fell in love with Jan Karon's ‘Mitford’ books more than two decades ago when my father gave me the first, ‘At Home in Mitford’ for Christmas after enjoying it himself. I liked it so much I gradually acquired the rest of the books about the Episcopalian priest in small town America, known as Father Tim. I watched him learn about being diabetic, was pleased when he adopted a huge dog called Barnabas, and rooted for him all the way when he started courting his next-door-neighbour Cynthia.

There were nine Mitford books originally, ending with 'Light from Heaven', when Father Tim, who had officially retired a few books earlier, begins to accept his role and discover new callings. Then Jan Karon wrote one which involved Tim travelling back to his childhood home and discovering some long-held family secrets. That was followed by a book where he and Cynthia followed up more genealogy clues, on a holiday in Ireland. And then, perhaps due to so many requests from her readers, Jan Karon returned to Mitford, and wrote three more books, focussing more on Tim’s adopted son Dooley and his relationship with Lace.

I was given the last of these books, ‘To be where you are’, for Christmas 2018. But I was determined to read the whole series again before embarking on what is, I’m fairly sure, the last foray into Mitford. So I started again with ‘At Home in Mitford’ in November 2000, aiming to read one every month. That didn’t quite happen, but I’ve finally finished the last book.

‘To be where you are’ is set both in Mitford and in Meadowgate, the farm where Dooley and Lace are now living. Alternate sections follow either Father Tim - or some of his former parishioners - or Dooley (with some insights into Lace’s mind too). It’s a tad confusing at times, but each section is headed with the date and place, and it’s mostly obvious who is being referred to. Dooley and Lace have been married for a few months and are hoping to finalised the adoption of the boy they have been fostering. But life isn’t easy - there are expensive problems with the plumbing, and Lace is very torn between her work as an artist and her life in the family.

Meanwhile Father Tim is asked to help in many different ways in Mitford, taking on a new and unexpected job for a while when one of his friends is taken to hospital. He’s 70 now, but still mostly keeping fit and active, wondering how far to ‘let go’ of Dooley and his siblings, and how much to stay involved. There are one or two new characters, and plenty of old friends.

I enjoyed the book, but it’s not my favourite - it felt a bit too spread out between too many people and storylines. .It wouldn’t be a good introduction to the series since it follows the lives of so many characters from earlier books. I found the number of people a bit confusing at times, and I’m quite familiar with the town. However, as a finale it worked extremely well, bringing several threads together, seeing people move forwards with their lives, and also ending with both Tim and Dooley taking their wives away on holiday… we’re not told exactly where, and it doesn’t matter.

I found it relaxing, compulsive reading at times - there are a couple of quite moving scenes - with some light-hearted moments too, mainly involving the ‘Muse’ newspaper. My favourite characters were the two children who came into focus - four-year-old Jack Tyler and six-year-old Grace Murphy. They were very well written, I thought, and quite different from each other.

Definitely recommended if you’ve read the other Mitford books and feel as if the people are your friends; I love catching up with folk like this, and could almost believe that Mitford and its people exist the other side of the world. But don’t start with this one. It’s a series that really needs to be read in order for the later books to make sense.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews