The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

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Celia Fairchild loses her job in New York City and inherits a house in Charleston.

Celia Fairchild is getting her life back in order after a divorce. She's got a great job writing her advice column Dear Calpurnia in New York City, and she's searching for a larger apartment to help her odds of adopting a child.

All of a sudden, Celia's life is in upheaval. Her newspaper is picked up by a large company that fires her and keeps her column's persona. She receives a call that her aunt died and left her a house in Charleston, and she travels to the South to handle the sale of the house.

Celia finds the house in disrepair and decides to use her severance to renovate the home and live there for the home visit with the adoption agency. During the day, Celia is surrounded by construction and the neighbors that are helping with removing the colossal amount of possessions left in the house. At night, she struggles with loneliness in her new city and missing her friends in New York.

Celia goes through a journey with the renovations and discovers that family is closer than she thinks. Her life didn't end up how she expected, but she's no less happy for the surprises the world has given her.

I chose to read this book because it takes place in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. This is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse, as authors who aren't from the area tend to get things wrong.

In the case of this novel, it was a bit of a curse. The author describes many Charleston restaurants, which makes some portions of the novel read like a travel guide to me as locals are familiar with all of these spots. The descriptions go a little in-depth rather than being a casual name drop. Also, I've never heard a local call a porch a "piazza" as we all use the word porch (or maybe balcony if it's on an upper floor). Piazza sounds like a real estate agent's term more than a local's.

Recommended for fans of women's fiction who enjoy stories about middle-aged women, especially those working on themselves after big life changes.

Marie Bostwick is the bestselling author of historical and women's fiction. She resides in Oregon.

To celebrate this book which takes place in Charleston, the Charleston County Public Library hosted an evening with the author when the book was published. You can view the video on Facebook here.

Publisher: William Morrow

Length: 416 pages

Release Date: March 2, 2021

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.