Althea Winslow is a young widow with a baby son. Everyone, especially her mother-in-law, insists she should re-marry because she cannot run the farm by herself. Two men are courting her, but neither interests her.
Everyone in town thinks Jess Best is retarded because of a brain injury as a child. It takes him a long time to learn things and he speaks slowly. He generally gets ignored because he cannot explain himself. But when he comes to buy Althea's hunting dogs, she strikes a bargain. If he will help her with the farm through the winter, she will give him the dogs. Jess soon falls in love with Althea as she treats him like an adult, not a child. Althea realizes that Jess is slow, but he is not stupid, and if given enough time, he has good ideas which help her with the farm. She also sees that he is kind, loving with her young son and able to protect her and her son. She comes to love Jess and gently shows him how to make love. But in order to convince the town folk and her mother-in-law that Althea is not behaving scandalously with a handsome younger man, Althea and Jess must convince them that Jess is not so simple and can be a good husband to her. | ||
Plot & Themes Time/era of story Difficult/unusual lover? Yes How difficult? Main Male Character Profession/status: Age/status: - 20's-30's Sex makes him Unusual characteristics? Main Female Character Age/status: - 20's-30's Setting United States Yes The US: - Southeast Farm/Ranch? Yes Farm/Ranch: - farm Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death What % of story is romance related? - 90% How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex Focus of story - equally on him and her How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |