From Publishers Weekly
Tyler Wilkes, a physician from an affluent Philadelphia family, has bought a practice in small-town Wayne's Crossing. Formerly one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, he dreams of becoming an epidemiologist and finding a cure for malaria. Instead, he meets Carrie Wiggins, a mute waif who lives with her abusive and zealously religious stepfather in a small mountain cabin. She shares her "hospital"--a clearing in the woods where she bandages and cares for injured animals--with Tyler, and her naivete enchants him. Carrie communicates by writing in a small notebook until Tyler happens upon her when she is alone and singing one day and discovers that she is capable of speech. Gaffney ( Another Eden ) populates the burg with interesting characters, such as Dr. Stoneman, the curmudgeonly country doctor whose office Tyler has acquired; Mrs. Quick, Tyler's nosy housekeeper; and Broom, a tall, skinny boy who suffers from St. Vitus's Dance. This historical romance is more cerebral than most, but 18-year-old Carrie's childlike innocence is so powerful that it gives the eventual intimacy between her and Tyler an unsettling undercurrent of pedophilia. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

ANNOTATION

With strong sales that have consistently risen for the past four years, Gaffney is on her way to establishing herself as one of the biggest names in romance. And now, with Sweet Everlasting, she has fashioned a wonderful, heartwarming romance set in rural Pennsylvania at the turn of the century involving an aristocratic doctor and a shy village girl. Original.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The novels of Patricia Gaffney have enraptured countless readers. The New York Times bestselling author of The Saving Graces tells the tale of a small-town doctor and the healing power of love...

FROM THE CRITICS

Nora Roberts

When I crave romance with emotional punch and unforgettable characters I turn to Patricia Gaffney.

Mary Jo Putney

Magnificent.

Publishers Weekly