The Ludlow Ladies' Society

Connie Carter has left a life in America to live in the Irish countryside residence of Ludlow Hall. She has lost everything and has to start agin and try to make sense of what her life is. Ludlow has been stood empty and is need of love, life and care. Local residents are at first, apprehensive of what this stranger from across the pond will do to their beloved Ludlow. Connie herself is apprehensive of not fitting in and being a stranger in this close-knit community, as she begins to get acquainted with the area she finds a couple of local ladies willing to help. Eve, used to live at the hall and is a member of The Ludlow Ladies' Society along with her good friend Hetty. The Society has a project to make memory quilts for an upcoming festival. During the making of these quilts, secrets, memories, heartbreak as well as good memories and stories will rise and make themselves known. The three women all have previous histories that still haunt them, and it is while the quilts are being made, they will be able to deal with the past and move forward. In doing this they form a strong bond and a friendship, they will need this support more than they know.

You will want to read this book in a day. Once you start it, you will not want to put it down until the very last page has been read and absorbed. It is a beautifully written, heartwarming story of friendship. There are secrets in the lives of the women that are hard to read, it is not a soft story to read. Ann has shown how cruel, vindictive and nasty people can be, but balanced it beautifully, showing the caring and compassionate nature of people. As you read through the story, you will see how tragedy can be almost too much to bear, it is something that should not be dealt with alone. Also how to move on towards the future, you need to deal with the past and completely leave it behind.

I would highly recommend this book to readers of General and Women's Fiction. It is a book that will creep its way into your heart as you read it. A wonderfully written and beautiful story that had me in tears in several places, and shocked in others. I also think this would make a great choice for Book Reading Groups, as there many things for group discussion contained within this story.

The Ludlow Ladies' Society is a truly beautiful story about love and loss, but above all of compassion, friendship and the strength and resilience of women.

Connie moves into Ludlow Hall after leaving behind devastating events in America. Her late husband had spent all their money on the house without her knowing about it and now she wants to find out why.

Eve is the former owner of Ludlow Hall. She was forced to leave her home when the bank foreclosed on it. And then there's Hetty, also a widow, who still hides a secret about her husband.

The Ludlow Ladies' Society, of which Eve and Hetty are members, comes together to create memory quilts for an exhibition that will be attended by Michelle Obama. Soon secrets are shared and mysteries will be solved but more importantly, friendships are formed that will change these women's lives. I loved getting to know each and every one of these characters.

I found this novel to be absolutely heartwarming and sometimes I felt it was so incredibly heartbreaking that I actually reached for a tissue. (Totally blame the hormones!) But there are also a few chuckles. These ladies will worm their way into your heart and they made me proud to be a woman. I envied this warm circle of friends and wished I could be a part of it. Each in their own way is an inspiration, putting their own grief aside to care and show compassion for someone else. 

Many thanks to Black & White Publishing for my advanced copy, which I received through Netgalley and chose to review honestly.

Coukd not put the book down a page turner the story of loss and new friendships being built snother best selker in the making highly recommended.
A sequel to the book would be a hugh sucess .

Connie Carter is the new owner of Ludlow Hall, she travels from America after a tragedy and major loss. Ludlow has been empty and is in need of love, life and care. Eve is the former owner of Ludlow Hall who has also known great tragedy and loss. She has begun her life again as the local seamstress. She is a member of the Ludlow Ladies Society, along with her friend Hetty who also has her own secrets. The Society are busy working on a major project that they will enter in a competition. The Society open their arms to Connie and encourage her to become a member of their community.

I would highly recommend this book, I loved it. Connie and Eve are lovely characters who bond because of their past losses and tragedies. Their friendship becomes very important to both of them, and it is very compassionate. Hetty is a great character, she has her own secrets but persists in bringing everyone together with humour and good will. There are moments in the book that could make you quite weepy but there are also laugh aloud moments. I especially enjoyed the emails from the chairperson of the Society to all the ladies, the needling of Jack Davoren the chairman of the Town Committee is very funny.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Ann O'Loughlin and Black & White Publishing for my copy of this book. My review is my own honest and unbiased personal opinion.

Although I've been aware of Ann O'Loughlin's previous novels and was sure I would like them, somehow I haven't got around to reading any before this, her third novel. And I'm so pleased to say I was right: I loved this book and couldn't put it down.

The storyline revolves around three women and Ludlow Hall. Connie is a New Yorker who has suffered unimaginable loss and has fled to Ireland to live in the run-down Irish mansion her husband had bought without her knowledge. Eve is the former owner of the house who was unceremoniously thrown out due to her husband's debts. Finally, Hetty owns the local B&B and is the widow of Barry, who was very much liked and respected in the local community. The Ludlow Ladies' Society used to meet in Ludlow Hall and is a crafts group made up of lots of local women. They are desperately in need of a new home with lots of space to work on their latest project - memory quilts which they hope will lead to them meeting Michelle Obama as winners of a festival competition.

The first thing to say about this book is that it is a very emotional read. All three of the women have lost their husbands and are coping - or not - in different ways. The three main characters all had suffered loss and so much sorrow. It is hard to imagine how they could come to terms with what had happened in their pasts but their shared stories helped them to bond and support each other. There were many secrets they didn't want to reveal because they were too painful, too humiliating or too private. But by opening up to each other, they begin to heal through the non-judgemental, accepting friendship they offered. The author's beautiful way of writing made feeling all the emotions along with her characters inevitable.

This is also a book about memories, treasuring the happy times and learning to live with unhappy memories. Reading about Eve's button box brought back memories of my Gran's button box which I used to love to play with. I imagine that many people will have similar happy memories. In those buttons were the memories of all the garments they belonged to. In the same way, the fabric used in the memory quilts made by the Ludlow Ladies held memories of people, places and events precious to the individual members and the community. 

Towards the end of the book came revelation upon revelation. Some I had guessed at but others took me by surprise just as much as the characters. Yet nothing seemed out of place or unbelievable. All the parts of the story came together flawlessly to create whole in much the same way as the diverse pieces of fabric came together to make a completed patchwork quilt. The characters seemed very real to me and I shared in their pain, their laughter, their hopes and their healing.

If you haven't read anything by Ann O'Loughlin before - and even if you have - I really recommend you get yourself a copy of The Ludlow Ladies' Society. I will definitely be making time to read the author's previous novels and will be looking out for any future books.