In the Company of Others: Book summary and reviews of In the Company of Others by Jan Karon

In the Company of Others Summary

Jan Karon's new series, launched with her New York Times bestselling Home to Holly Springs. In this second novel, Father Tim and Cynthia arrive in the west of Ireland, intent on researching his Kavanagh ancestry from the comfort of a charming fishing lodge. The charm, however, is broken entirely when Cynthia startles a burglar and sprains her already-injured ankle. Then a cherished and valuable painting is stolen from the lodge owners, and Cynthia's pain pales in comparison to the wound at the center of this bitterly estranged Irish family.

In the Company of Others is a moving testament to the desperate struggle to hide the truth at any cost and the powerful need to confess. Of all her winning novels, Jan Karon says this "dark-haired child" is her favorite - a sentiment readers everywhere are certain to share.

In the Company of Others Reviews

"Though it's not the ideal entry point to the expansive world of Father Tim, fans will relish this new chapter in his life." - Publishers Weekly

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In the Company of Others Reader Reviews

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Rated of 5 by darlena
doesn't come close to the Mitford series
The other reviewers said it very well; too wordy, difficult to understand and, most of all, I missed Cynthia, who was (out with a broken leg - why? Pleeaasse, - write a different series! How about one where the protagonists are Dooly and Lace?

Rated of 5 by H. Smith
Not up to former quality
I love all her books but this one. I re-read all of them every couple of years and thoroughly enjoy them and are blessed by them. This particular one was not of that caliber and I have never re-read it. Actually, I loaned it to a friend who had them same impression as I did. I told her to keep it or else pass it on. I await the next Karon book with high expectations that it will be a return to the blessing that the previous ones have been.

Rated of 5 by Penny Miller
Very Disappointed
Dear goodness, I thought it would never end...especially the parts about the old journal. The dialect is hard to read and the characters even harder to get close to. I've loved every other Jan Karon book and hope she was just being self indulgent on this one...maybe the next one will be written in her old style.

Rated of 5 by E Lemons
I wasted $10
In the Company of Others - I hate it. I have struggled through half, thinking it's gotta get better. It hasn't. Sorry I wasted $10. Sorry, Jan, this book stinks. Hard to follow the characters, hard to even understand the Irish dialect. In my opinion, this is a waste of trees, to print this.

Rated of 5 by Cookie G.
IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS
I have read all of the Jan Karon books but I found In The Company of Others--too many characters, names too hard to pronounce and not enough Tim and Cynthia. I am now re-reading Home to Holly Springs and love it more the second time around.

Rated of 5 by Kenneth B.
In the Company of Others Review
I thought this book would never end, particularly when reading the chapters devoted to the "lost journal" from the 1860s. I guess Karon invented this device to pique interest in some of the mysteries going on at the inn where Fr. Tim and Cynthia were staying, but, in my opinion, it fell flat. I half expected Miss Jane Marple to show up for dinner. Maybe she should have, to add some sparkle to this depressing read, if nothing else. I'm hoping Karon's next book will be an improvement over this one.

...2 more reader reviews

Jan Karon Author Biography

Jan Karon was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, in 1937 ("A great year for the Packard automobile," she says). Her creative skills first came alive when her family moved to a farm. "On the farm there is time to muse and dream," she says. "I am endlessly grateful I was reared in the country. As a young girl I couldn't wait to get off that farm, to go to Hollywood or New York. But living in those confined, bucolic circumstances was one of the best things that ever happened to me."

Jan knew that she wanted to be a writer, and even wrote a novel at the age of ten. Her first real opportunity as a writer came at age eighteen when she took a job as a receptionist at an ad agency. She kept leaving her writing on her boss's desk until he noticed her ability. Soon she was...

... Full Biography
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