Matched in Merriweather

Cox (A Christmas at Highbury) serves up a charming retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma set during the Great Depression. Melody Merriweather resents having to leave college to run the Merc, her family’s general store in Merriweather, Wis. But with her father recovering from a heart attack, she doesn’t have much choice. At first, Melody tries to modernize the store by offering luxury items, but no one in town can afford them. After learning that her father lost the family’s fortune in bad investments, she hatches a plan to save the store and their home by brewing and selling cider. For help, she turns to the store’s handsome but aloof butcher, Cal Fraiser, innocent shopgirl Harriet Mueller, and her father’s partner, the huffy old Mrs. Haufbrau. Neither the cider nor Melody’s attempts at matchmaking on Harriet’s behalf go as planned, and she soon discovers that her family’s situation is even worse than she’d thought. While Cox glosses over the darker aspects of the Great Depression—the townsfolk pinch pennies, but no one is in dire straits—she’s crafted a believable Midwest town filled with colorful characters. Silly and spoiled at first, Melody matures over the course of the novel and learns the importance of putting herself in others’ shoes. Readers are in for a treat. (Self-published)