This is Lisa Bernhard’s true story of a year in her life as an early forty-something woman. It is her second year of living in the country, and she begins to develop friendships and relationships within the community. Lisa joins organizations and volunteers, and begins to understand the magic and endless work involved in keeping her home afloat. All the while, her dogs create constant chaos, giving her ample opportunity to laugh, and cry, heartily. Her perceptions cause her to look backward, and contemplate all the moments that brought her to her present existence. Through examining the choices and incidences that shaped her past and led her home, she gains insight and confidence, and ultimately, great satisfaction in how it all turned out.  More
When “Charlotte” — real-life novelist Lisa Bernhard’s alter ego — moves to a fifty-acre property in Vermont from a cramped apartment in New York, she trusts that her family of large- and small-breed dogs will live happily ever after. Indeed, Emma (Lisa's house) warmly welcomes Rover, Honeydew, Lucky, Lambchop, Pippin, Clementine, and Monday. But in Bless This House, Lisa shows that things rarely turn out the way we want them to. Charlotte loses six of her beloved dogs in three years. Through it all, though, she gains a family, a home, and the wisdom to know when, and why, to let go.  More