The Mulberry Tree

By Jude Deveraux

Lillian Manville, the devoted wife of business titan Jimmie Manville, had always taken the blessings of her life for granted - until the devastating news of Jimmie's death turns everything upside down. Lillian is bewildered to learn that Jimmie has willed her nothing but the rundown farmhouse of his Virginia childhood and left his fortune to his greedy brother and sister. All Lillian has now is a house she's never seen - and Jimmie's cryptic note alluding to a mysterious scandal that had haunted her late husband since his Virginia boyhood: 'Find out the truth about what happened will you? Do it for me. And wherever you are, whatever you do, remember that I love you.'

To escape the relentless paparazzi hounding her in the wake of her husband's death, Lillian changes her name, gives herself a dramatic makeover and sets herself up in the old Manville farmhouse. She has no inkling that these transformations merely mark the start of a thrilling journey of discovery about her own resilience, about the endurance of love - and about the shocking secret that plagued the dark corners of her husband's mind.

Luminous and inspiring, THE MULBERRY TREE is sure to captivate readers everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Oct 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471104206

Jude Deveraux

Jude Deveraux is the author of forty-three New York Times bestsellers, including For All Time, Moonlight in the Morning, and A Knight in Shining Armor. She was honored with a Romantic Times Pioneer Award in 2013 for her distinguished career. To date, there are more than sixty million copies of her books in print worldwide.

Reviews for The Mulberry Tree

[judithdcollins · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"One of her best books..Jude Deveraux as her finest! Great storyteller with a combination of generations past, greedy business world, drama, history, and a little romance! "

[kebets_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lillian Manville was nothing until James Manville found her. And she continued to be nothing unless he was with her. She was plump and shy and unhappy and unfazed by the glitter of the billionaire life. And that was just the way James liked it. Lillian knew that. And she was ok with that.And then he died.And she became the scapegoat and the butt of all jokes. The dumpy woman behind the genius. The pitiful wife who was left out of his will. The lump in the corner that everyone loved to ignore who now was truly a nobody. But, did James really turn his back on her? He left her a note in the will asking her to find the answers. And he left her a house. A horrible tumbledown ghastly house in the mountains of Virginia outside the town of Calburn. A hideous house...with the most incredible garden hiding in the weeds under a magnificent mulberry tree.And that is where Lillian finds her true self as Bailey James. She finds her voiceand her willand the truth behind James Manville.This was a book that I thought I had figured out a couple of times.It is a love story - the hunky contractor who swoops in to save the newly widowed. newly beautiful stranger in town. And yes that does happen - but it's more than that.It is a story of empowering women to be more than just the spouse. It is about the lengths of pain one decision can inflict on others. It is about the stories that are hidden in small towns. It is about how hard it is to find truth when most people want life to just be.I enjoyed this!And I would recommend this!

[cindyloumn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. About a fat woman, loved by a billionare, who dies, and leaves her nothing but a run down farm. How she moves there, finds out secrets, finds friends and a new love. 11/8/04

[booklovers2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Easy fast moving and good read! Reminds me of [Wildflower Hill]. The book begins with the newly widowed Lillian being woken in the middle of the night with the news that her billionaire husband is dead and he has left her nothing but an old abandoned farmhouse in a washed up town in rural Virginia. Left with just a note from her deceased husband to find out what really happened, the widow leaves her mansion and millions and goes into hiding. The book kept me very engaged. It is a mix of romance and mystery and in my opinion just enough to be tolerable. I would recommend it.

[myab-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed being along for the ride as Lillian/Bailey tried to solve the mystery of her deceased husbands past. Matt was a nice leading man. For me, a bit more romance or sparks between the two would've earned it a 5 star.