Written by Eve Adams
Format: MP3

As touching as it is humorous, The Garden of Eden is a parable for our time with a powerful and ultimately redemptive ending that speaks to oft underappreciated virtues such as loyalty (sticking with those you love even when they screw up royally), tolerance, and forgiveness. It's also about the values that keep America together---the simple solutions ordinary people find to keep their small communities strong.
Trooper Sam Neely is fresh out of the State Police academy and finds himself assigned to the dullest backwater town he's never heard of. Things heat up quickly in Eden, U.S.A., however, when Ed Harris, the banker, finds his wife in bed with his best friend, Hayden Elkins. Ed picks up a shotgun, escorts them both to the door, and tells friend Hayden, "Guess what? She's yours!"
"I've got a wife, Ed," says Hayden.
"Now you have two. . . ."
Forced to take his paramour to live under his own roof (after all, they had only intended to share an afternoon of delight, not to leave their spouses), Hayden suddenly finds himself the butt of every joke in town.
That's where things start to spin out of control.
Before long, Elijah Murphy, the town drunk, and the snooping widow next door, to whom he'd exposed himself, are falling in love; sleazy Sheriff's Deputy Delmar Clay is about to get a butt-full of birdshot for the pictures he's been snapping of young couples getting hot and heavy in parked cars; and the Barrow Boys are out of jail and looking for trouble. Soon, Neely finds that managing the crises in the sticks is a full-time job, and it takes a whole community---from the compassionate local magistrate to the new female preacher---to keep things from exploding big-city style.
More...please!

I just plain enjoyed this book! It doesn't fit any genre...not a 'mystery', not a 'thriller', etc. Just tells a story about folks living a not quite ordinary life.The characters were likeable. Kind of like hearing the local 'gossip' from your best friend. Rules were bent at appropriate times. People got what was coming to them. And the main story had a happy ending. My only complaint is there were too many questions left unanswered....too many stories that were not ended. Maybe a little too 'real life' in that respect. For example, did the author find his 'true love'? What happens with the town drunk and the widow next door? What do the 'kids' do after HS graduation.....does college end their relationship? I enjoyed the book....but it left me wanting more!
Coming home early one day with a sore stomach, Ed Harris finds his wife in bed with his (former) best friend Hyden. Since they didn't see him seeing them, he had time to reflect before reacting. His reaction: forcing his (former) friend to take on Anne (his former wife) on as his second wife. Force how? With a hunting rifle of course! The next Ed regrets his actions of course, but by then Ann has decided to play the role of second wife and not show Ed how upset she really is. Of course, this sets the tongues Eden, population 47, wagging. I could end this review with ‘hilarity ensues’ and leave it at that-because it’s true. Hayden’s situation (two wives, who quietly become best friends) seems to set off a series of reactions amongst the townsfolk-beginning with gossipy old ladies making complaints to the new State Trooper about bigotry and attempted bodily harm, to folks falling in love, falling out of love and getting caught trying to make love (in cars). This book, reportedly by a New York Times best seller (don’t know who it is-didn't try to hard to figure it out), was a lot of fun and the perfect audiobook for my morning ride into work. Give it a try