In Davis Bunn’s novel, The Book of Hours, Brian Blackstone has been traveling aimlessly for the past two years, grieving the death of his wife. After a harrowing illness in Sri Lanka, and still not completely well, Brian lands in Oxfordshire at Castle Priory, where his wife had grown up. Her aunt had passed away and left the property to him.

The aunt had been elderly and unable to keep up with repairs, plus, the property had sat untouched for some time. It needed a lot of work in addition to an enormous amount of death duties owed. Though Brian would like to keep the place for his wife’s sake, he can’t afford it. The real estate agent in charge of the property already has it set up to be sold at auction.

The people in the small town around the castle mistakenly think Brian is only after the money the estate will bring, not realizing their won’t be any money left after the sale. One who is particularly frustrated with Brian is Cecilia Lyons, an American doctor whose dream has been to practice in an English village. Plus, she loves her home, Rose Cottage, which is one of the buildings on the castle property, and doesn’t want to lose it.

In addition to the castle drama, the local vicar is facing a battle on another front. The church bells had been taken down to be repaired. But some people don’t want them put back up. They used to chime every hour, which annoyed many people. But the vicar insists it’s not just about the bells–the chimes were a call to prayer.

When Brian finds a letter from his wife’s aunt with a clue to finding another message, he, Cecilia, the vicar, and a couple of others discover that the castle problem and the bell problem might be intertwined. But will they find the solution in time?

I am not sure of the time frame of this story. I don’t think one was mentioned. There are cars and phones, but no mention of cell phones, computers, the internet, etc.

Though most of the book takes place in the weeks before Christmas, that’s almost incidental. The connection with Christmas isn’t mentioned until the last chapter.

I really enjoyed the story a lot. I loved how so many people had to overcome their mistaken impressions about each other. There was quite a lot of suspense in the latter half of the book. And I really loved a lot of side characters, particularly an older couple who are Brian’s neighbors. I found the spiritual journeys of the characters quite touching.

The only odd thing about the story was frequent mention of proceeding with an action or conversation because it “felt right.” That’s not so unusual in itself, but it was mentioned so often it began to stand out.

Overall, I loved the book.