Home to Woefield (U.S.)
The Woefield Poultry Collective (CAN)
[ADULT]
Woefield Farm is a sprawling thirty acres of scrub land, complete with dilapidated buildings and one half-sheared, lonely sheep named Bertie. It’s “run”— in the loosest possible sense of the word—by Prudence Burns, an energetic, well-intentioned 20-something New Yorker full of back-to-the-land ideals, but without an iota of related skills or experience. Prudence, who inherited the farm from her uncle, soon discovers that the bank is about to foreclose on the property, which means that she has to turn things around, fast. But fear not! She’ll be assisted by Earl, a spry 70-something, banjo-playing foreman, with a distrust of newfangled ideas and a substantial family secret; Seth, the alcoholic, celebrity-blogging guy-next-door, who hasn’t left the house since a scandal with his high-school drama teacher; and Sara Spratt, a highly organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens, including one particularly randy fellow soon to be christened Alec Baldwin.
Praise for Woefield
Booklist
“When Prudence Burns inherits her uncle’s farm, she pictures barn raisings, strawberry socials, and the pastoral idyll. The reality: 30 acres of scrub land. Undaunted, her naive optimism, which alternately astounds and amuses, attracts a rag-tag band of misfits who join her bumbling, madcap efforts to make a go of Woefield Farm. … In her sparklingly witty and charming first novel for adults, the author of the Alice MacLeod YA series delightfully combines satire and a distinctly modern voice with old-fashioned sweetness, and her laugh-out-loud writing is tempered by the characters’ emotional pain and efforts to help one another heal. Woefield Farm may not produce a single crop, yet it’s fertile ground for superb storytelling.”
Sandra Kasturi, National Post
“it’s so difficult to have a (theoretically) morally superior protagonist doing good works, and have them be in any way likable. Nanaimo’s Susan Juby achieves this miraculous feat with her latest novel, The Woefield Poultry Collective… The novel is genuinely funny and tremendously charming.”
Elizabeth Hopkins, Winnipeg Free Press
“Juby captures the essence of a small town farming community.”
“Laurie Glenn Norris, Telegraph-Journal”
Reading The Woefield Poultry Collective… is a great, lighthearted way to welcome spring. I recommend it to all gardeners and farmers, at any skill level, to ardent poultry fanciers and anyone who just wants a good belly laugh.
New York Journal of Books
“A wonderful juxtaposition of parody and playfulness, Home to Woefield is a joyous book about someone living out a fantasy, confronting illusions, and attempting to make a dream come true.”
Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Insatiable
“Susan Juby is a marvel. Wise, witty, and full of heart, her writing draws you in and won’t let go. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it does. I never wanted to leave Woefield, and you won’t, either.”
Susan Gregg Gilmore, author of The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove and Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
“Juby takes us on a downright riotous and warm-hearted ride… Home to Woefield is a fun, fabulous read no matter what the growing season!”
Tish Cohen, author of The Truth About Delilah Blue and Inside Out Girl
“Disarming, endearing, and laugh-out-loud funny, Home to Woefield is a wry look at a handful of misfits brought together by farmland only slightly more fertile than the moon. A bewitching debut as quirky and charming as they come.”
Robin Antalek, author of The Summer We Fell Apart
“You will cheer for Susan Juby’s delightful cast of characters… As funny as it is heartbreaking, and in voices as original as the story itself, you won’t soon forget the inhabitants of Woefield Farm.”
Publisher’s Weekly
“A “sweetly cockamamie tale of the emotional, physical, and spiritual recovery of lost souls sharing a neglected farm, a seriously depressed sheep, a coop of fancy chickens, and a last shred of hope… A wounded little girl and an indomitably hopeful big one book-end this lightly funny and touching yarn about an endearing band of social wrecks who are impossible not to love, at least a little.”
Home to Woefield: The Book Trailer from courtesy productions on Vimeo.
Fabulous book trailer for Home to Woefield (The Woefield Poultry Collective in Canada) by Jeff Woodward.