The Charm School. Сьюзен Виггс

      

      Praise for the novels of Susan Wiggs

      “The Charm School draws readers in with delightful characters, engaging dialogue, humor, emotion and sizzling sensuality.”

      —Costa Mesa Sunday Times

      “Will appeal to fans across the board.”

      —Library Journal on The Charm School

      “In poetic prose, Wiggs evocatively captures the Old South and creates an intense, believable relationship between the lovers.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Horsemaster’s Daughter

      “Wiggs is one of our best observers of stories of the heart. Maybe that is because she knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.”

      —Salem Statesman-Journal

      “[A] delightful romp…With its lively prose, well-developed conflict and passionate characters, this enjoyable, poignant tale is certain to enchant.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Halfway to Heaven

      “A bold, humorous and poignant romance that fulfills every woman’s dreams.”

      —Christina Dodd on Enchanted Afternoon

      “A rare treat.”

      —Amazon.com on The Firebrand, an Amazon.com

       Best of 2001 title

      “With this final installment of Wiggs’s Chicago Fire trilogy, she has created a quiet page-turner that will hold readers spellbound as the relationships, characters and story unfold. Fans of historical romances will naturally flock to this skillfully executed trilogy, and general women’s fiction readers should find this story enchanting as well.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Firebrand

      “Wiggs’s uncomplicated stories are rich with life lessons, nod-along moments and characters with whom readers can easily relate. Delightful and wise, Wiggs’s latest shines.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Dockside

      “Empathetic protagonists, interesting secondary characters, well-written flashbacks, and delicious recipes add depth to this touching, complex romance.”

      —Library Journal on The Winter Lodge

      “With the ease of a master, Wiggs introduces complicated, flesh-and-blood characters into her idyllic but identifiable small-town setting, sets in motion a refreshingly honest romance, resolves old issues and even finds room for a little mystery.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Winter Lodge (starred review)

      “Wiggs explores many aspects of grief, from guilt to anger to regret, imbuing her book with the classic would’ve/could’ve/should’ve emotions, and presenting realistic and sympathetic characters…another excellent title [in] her already outstanding body of work.”

      —Booklist on Table for Five (starred review)

      “A human and multilayered story exploring duty to both country and family.”

      —New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts on The Ocean Between Us

the CHARM SCHOOL

      Susan Wiggs

      the Charm School

      To the most charming group of people I know:

       LIBRARIANS.

      You probably don’t remember my name,

       but you saw me every week. I was the quiet child

       with the long pigtails and the insatiable appetite for

       Beverly Cleary, Carol Ryrie Brink and

       Louise Fitzhugh. I was the one you had to tap on the

       shoulder at closing time, because I was still sitting

       on a stool in the stacks, poring over Ramona’s latest

       adventures or sniffling as I read Anne Frank’s diary.

       I was the little girl with the huge wire basket on

       the front of her bike—for lugging home a stack of

       books that weighed more than I did. I never thought

       to thank you back then, but I didn’t understand how

       very much all those hours, and all those books, and

       all your patience meant to me or to the writer I

       would become. But I understand now. So this book

       is dedicated to you, to all of you, in gratitude for

       bringing books and readers together.

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Part One: The Ugly Duckling

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Part Two: The Bird of Passage

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Part Three: The Bird of Winter

      Chapter Twenty

      Chapter Twenty-One

      Chapter Twenty-Two

      Part Four: The Swan

      Chapter Twenty-Three

      Chapter Twenty-Four

      Chapter Twenty-Five

      Chapter Twenty-Six

      Afterword

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Thanks to the usual suspects: Joyce, Alice, Christina, Betty and Barb. Also to Jill, Kristin and Debbie, who make this business much less isolating. Thanks also to my editors, Dianne Moggy and Amy Moore-Benson, who helped to shape this work with sensitivity and finesse. The passages from

      Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling (translated from the Danish by Jean Hersholt) are drawn from copy number 1990 of the 2500 Limited Editions Club, copyright 1942 for the George Macy Companies, Inc. The author humbly acknowledges her debt to the wisdom of the great storyteller, who wrote “Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan’s egg.”

      Part One

      The Ugly Duckling

      “What nice little children you do have, mother,” said the old duck with the rag around her leg. “They are all pretty except that one. He didn’t come out so well. It’s a pity you can’t hatch him again.”

      And the poor duckling who had been the last one out of his egg, and who looked so ugly, was pecked and pushed about and made fun of by the ducks, and the chickens as well. “He’s too big,” said they all. The turkey gobbler, who thought himself an emperor because he was born wearing spurs, puffed up like a ship under full sail and bore down upon him, gobbling and