New Book The Socks 'N Sandals Club: Mirth and Mayhem In a Tiny Town

Literary whimsy is in short supply these days. Possibly it's because we live in such frantic, difficult times. Maybe it's because the global economy looks shaky -- and everyone is afraid to have a little fun. Or perhaps it's because there aren't too many writers out there blessed with a whimsical, light-hearted touch to keep us entertained.

(PRWEB) March 6, 2008 -- The Socks 'N Sandals Club: mirth and mayhem in a tiny town.

Literary whimsy is in short supply these days. Possibly it's because we live in such frantic, difficult times. Maybe it's because the global economy looks shaky -- and everyone is afraid to have a little fun. Or perhaps it's because there aren't too many writers out there blessed with a whimsical, light-hearted touch to keep us entertained.

Patricia Boyle has the touch. She's a retired Ontario schoolteacher, a keen observer of small-town life, and a writer who has lived just long enough to have developed a sharp eye and a subtle appreciation for life's many nuances and humorous absurdities. She brings her experiences to bear in her first novel, a delightful recounting of small-town social mores called The Socks 'N Sandals Club.

The town is named Faymus -- and there is a social faction within that would love nothing more than for the residents to live up to its name. The notorious busy-body Candace Morgan, Queen Bee of a group of do-gooders, desires above all else, a new sign to welcome visitors to her town. She wants Faymus to be labelled "The Town With Class.''

Of course, not everyone agrees -- and one of those is Willard Marsh, a comparative newcomer to the community. Everyone knows Willard. He's the guy at the grocery store who dresses amusingly, wearing socks with his sandals, and he's more than ready to do battle with Candace and her society ladies. Willard gets the town menfolk together to form the Socks 'N Sandals Club - and that's where the fun, the mayhem and the tomfoolery really begin.

Author Boyle has a deft touch with words -- and her obvious familiarity with the ways and manners of small-town life shows up throughout this charming novel. The characters and the conflict come to life, with page after page of amusing incident and sparkling byplay. This is a book to make you chuckle, a book to elevate your mood -- and these days, we could all use a good laugh.

Author Patricia Boyle is a writer based in Ontario. A retired schoolteacher, she is the author of two non-fiction books, The Hat Lady and Walker Hall Tearoom. She wrote this novel, her first, to give her imagination the chance to run free. "The characters came to live with me," she says. "They told me their stories and they're not ready to move out yet."

The Socks 'N Sandals Club
by Patricia Boyle
ISBN 9780973876529
$20.00 US/Cdn

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