title: The Mulberry Tree
author:  Jude Deveraux 
description: erennially bestselling romance writer Deveraux's newest (put out by Atria, S&amp;S's new hardcover imprint) tells the story of a 33-year-old woman's successful remaking of her life and self-image after the sudden death of her beloved husband, Jimmie, who was a combination of business tycoon and Mafia honcho. Pampered Lillian Manville is bustled away in the middle of the night and informed that she was cut almost entirely from Jimmie's will. Rather than a portion of his billions, he bequeathed her an old farmhouse in Virginia and a cryptic note referring to "the truth about what happened." Retreating to lick her wounds, Lillian begins to carve out a new life for herself and investigate the mystery of Jimmy's past. As she uncovers the town's buried secrets, she also discovers that Jimmy deliberately created a role for her as his mousy wife and kept her trapped there. As she breaks out of her shell, she loses weight, restyles herself and starts a cooking business with the townswomen, who grudgingly begin to accept her presence. Bailey (as Lillian renames herself) is infectiously enthusiastic yet just insecure enough to make her pathbreaking corporate organization of her neighbors and her concerns about her involvement with Matt, the inevitable eligible bachelor, ring true. There is nothing particularly surprising in this novel, but Deveraux's touch is gold, and her protagonist combines innocent appeal with wry experience in a way that readers will surely find irresistible.<br />Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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  The Mulberry Tree
  
  
  
  
  
  Jude Deveraux
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Image](images/cover.jpeg)
  
  
    
  
  
  The Mulberry Tree - Jude Deveraux
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Mulberry Tree - Jude Deveraux
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
  products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
  to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the
  Americas, New York, NY 10020
  
  
  
  
  
  The Mulberry Tree Copyright © 2002 by Deveraux, Inc.
  
  
  Originally published in hardcover in 2002 by Atria Books
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
  thereof in any form whatsoever.
  
  
  
  
  
  ISBN: 0-7434-3764-0
  
  
  
  
  
  First Pocket Books paperback printing May 2003
  
  
  Front cover illustration by Lisa Litwack
  
  
  Photo credits: G & M David de Lossy/The Image Bank, Koutaku/Photonica
  
  
  Printed in the U.S.A.
  
  
  
  
  
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