A powerful read, heartbreaking at times, as a woman in her 90s looks back at her life, through the entries in an address book given to her as a child by her father, not long before his untimely death. The book seemlessly switches between the present day and World War II as we learn about the life of this strong woman and the people and stories in her life

A beautiful nostalgic book about a life well lived. Doris the central character looks back on an address book and writes pivotal moments from her life to share with her family

The Red Address Book is a quiet book, one that doesn't rush but rather takes its time and slowly, delicately infiltrates your heart.

Doris' red address book, evidence of a long and full life but increasingly filled with crossed-out names marked "dead", prompts her to write down the story of her life by concentrating of some of her most meaningful relationships. I really loved the juxtaposition between younger, energetic Doris and older Doris, struggling to come to terms with the gradual loss of her physical abilities and her independence. Doris really lived - sometimes making tough choices and sometimes having to deal with the result of other people's choices or external circumstances - but she learned to accept it all, the good and the bad, and make the most of it.

It was refreshing to read about an elderly protagonist who isn't the usual cantankerous old woman. Yes, Doris did have her moments of intolerance, but they were limited and justified by her frustration at finding herself deprived of her independence. The rest of the time, Doris was caring, funny and resourceful, even teaching herself how to use Skype in order to keep in touch with her family in the US. I also liked getting to know Jenny, Doris' grandniece and only remaining family, and really felt her pain at having to confront a loved one's mortality. I wasn't too keen on Allan at first and definitely felt like he could have explored more as a character and in his relationship with Doris.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect going in this book, but I ended up falling in love with Doris and having ALL the feels! I definitely choked up towards the end, and when I turned that last page it felt like saying goodbye to an old friend.

Overall, this is a bittersweet and charming read that will likely appeal to fans of family histories and quiet historical dramas.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

A lovely and poignant story that all ties together into one little red book. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

I received a copy of this back in January 2019, and for some reason it took me nearly a year to get around to reading it. While it sounded interesting, it just wasn’t on the top of my priorities.

I’m so glad I finally got around to reading it because it was a beautiful and heartwarming read.

This was on of those rare times when I adored both parts of the book equally.

Reading about Doris as a 96 year old, alone expect for a grandniece on the other side of the world, was completely heartbreaking. I was incredibly sucked into her story from page one, and I just wanted to give her a hug!

As you’d expect from a book like this, Doris’ life was a really interesting one. We follow her from becoming a maid in Sweden when her family could no longer afford to keep her, to modelling in the metropolitan Paris and escaping to the USA during the war. There’s so much going on over the years, and I was well and truely hooked and invested into everything she faced over the years.

This is a truely beautiful story, it actually had me in tears which rarely happens with books. I highly reccommend checking it out if it sounds interesting to you.

Trigger warnings: abuse, sexual abuse, rape

Oh my goodness. This is one of those books that you just know what the ending will be. And perhaps have a tear or two, as I did.
However, getting to that point means that we have flashbacks to the past, interspersed with the sad reality of being old, and how or whether one can cope with that. The flashbacks are absolutely fascinating, meaning that by the time you near the end of the book, you feel that Doris is a beloved grandmother or dearest friend.
This book also is a spellbinding trip through history, which you do not have to be a history buff to be saddened and engaged by.
What a brilliant, sad, book.

I love stories about the past. Memoars and books what based on stories of an old person. I think it is well written and it gave me so much thing to dream, imagine about. Also, it made me warm and cosy.

This title appealed to me as it sounds a little like three things about Elsie.
It's about an old lady, Doris, reading through the address book she has had since she was a little girl and reminiscing about her past so its really a dual timeline story. When she reads the red address book she realises most of the people in it are now dead and she is almost alone in the world.
But at 96 Doris has lived her story is incredible and makes you think how many old folk we dismiss, who have probably done far more important and exciting things in their lives than we can imagine.
Its a tear jerker and of course there is romance and a few secrets but overall its a very entertaining read.

Doris (96), has failing health, poor mobility and lives alone in her Stockholm apartment. She treasures an old address book given to her by her father on her tenth birthday and in which she has carefully documented everyone she has met and loved ever since – most of them now long gone. Her only relative is her great-niece Jenny who lives in America but they talk weekly via Skype on Doris' laptop computer.

I wasn't sure what I was going to find in this book but right from the beginning I loved it. It's the story of Doris' life and loves, past and present.

Each name in the book triggers memories of the past, starting with her beloved father, the first name in the book. Doris decides to write it all down in the hope that Jenny will find it when Doris is gone.

Following her father's premature death, and the family's desperate financial situation, Doris had to abandon her schooling and leave home to work as a live-in maid. From there, whether by accident or design, life takes her to France, America and England. It turns out old Doris has led quite an eventful life full of joy, sadness, tragedy, opportunities and missed opportunities.

The story flips between the past and the present day; the young Doris and the older Doris who still has an independent spirit. Despite being hospitalised with a broken hip following a fall she refuses to accept that she can't go back to her apartment and will need to move into assisted living. Doris is rather a difficult patient but I quite like her stubbornness. During one of her skype calls with Jenny Doris suffers a heart attack and needs resuscitated. Jenny witnesses all this. A doctor says they'll take her details and keep her updated but then cuts her off.

Jenny immediately travels to Stockholm with her youngest child, leaving the rest of the family to reluctantly fend for themselves. She needs to see Doris and say goodbye but in Doris' apartment she finds papers and old letters and starts reading …..

I like how the past and present flip seamlessly. In the present Jenny has had a troubled relationship with her mother. She is very close to Doris. The revelations in Doris' memoir helps Jenny come to terms with her own past and partly explains why her mother was the way she was.

There is a fair bit of sadness and tragedy in the book but there is joy and happiness too.

I really liked the writing style of Sofia Lundberg and I think the translator Alice Menzies has done a very good job too. The story is easy to read with interesting characters and good dialogue.

I would definitely recommend it.

A story of loss, love and generosity.

Born in Sweden before the Second World War the life of Doris is dramatic and compelling.

The Red Address Book describes the people in the charismatic life of Doris from the time she is sent at the age of thirteen, from Sweden to Paris by her widowed mother.

She acquires a red address book that travels with her from Paris to America, England and finally back to Sweden where the current story is of Doris at 96 years old. Doris has a niece she adores, and before she dies, she wants her incredible story to be told. This is a story of loss, love, loss - war including unbelievable hardship and trauma. Doris's life and those whose stories she tells were never easy. However, the compassion, love and generosity Doris has and experiences - oozes through the pages as she describes the characters who fill her life with fabulous and dramatic experiences.

It is also a love story that could never be - due to the war, yet at the end, the love Doris always had in her heart is neatly tied up in a beautiful gift before she dies.

Fast-paced, fascinating and compelling absolutely must read!

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Doris is 96 years old and living on her own in Stockholm Sweden, no family save for her granddaughter Jenny who lives in America that she manages to Skype with on a regular basis. Her only other human contact are the caregivers who come in daily to tend to her needs. Doris has a special address book - each name inside crossed off with the word DEAD next to it. Its actually quite sad when you think about all the people you connect with over the course of your life, and those in your contacts who are sadly passed away. I found an old address book and at the age of 38 sad to say there are at least 5 friends who are sadly no longer here.

Each person in her address books holds some kind of special story relating to her life, and loves. She uses the address book to document and tell her life story for Jenny to read and we discover that Doris had had an amazing life, she was a model on Paris runways in the 1930s, was forced to flee to Manhattan at the start of World War II. And through all this she wonders what ever happened to Allan, the love of her life.

This is such a beautiful story, I admit I cried at the end, it I am not going to spoil it as you really should read it but this may just be the most emotional book I have read this year so far.

96-year-old Doris lives alone in an apartment in Stockholm. She gets very few visitors, looking forward instead to her weekly Skype calls with her grandniece, Jenny. Looking through the names in her old address book, Doris decides to write down the stories of her life – working as a maid in Sweden, becoming a live mannequin in Paris, falling in love and heading to America before the Second World War. There are so many stories to tell, and not much time left for Doris to tell them.

To begin with, I found this book quaint and interesting enough, but it didn’t really grab me. Doris and her stories did grow on me as I read on, and I did get more drawn in. The Red Address Book is a really sweet story; the actual plot isn’t very exciting but Doris is a strong and genuine character who made it a worthwhile read. It wasn’t 100% my cup of tea, but engaging and emotional nonetheless.

I do have to say that I was consistently put off by the mild obsession with beauty, but Doris and Jenny were both models and had their beauty celebrated so it did make sense at the same time as being shallow.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me weeping at the beautiful storyline about Doris an elderly lady living on her own in Stockholm, who has had a red address book since an early age.

However, as she has grown and moved through her life many of those in the address book passed away and she wrote ‘dead’ next to their names. The story follows from the very beginning when she received the address book from her beloved father right through to her very last days.

The author did a fantastic job of bringing out Doris’s loneliness and the joy she felt with her niece that lived across the other side of the world. The ending was very poignant and I was welling up reading it.

I was very excited to receive an advance copy of The Red Address Book from Sofia Lundberg. It was such a wonderful debut novel following the life story of 96 year old Swedish woman - Doris. She is near the end of her life and she looks back on all the important people in her life. It is heartbreaking at times and bittersweet as she recounts formative experiences in her childhood and adolescence. It is rather wondrous when she meets the love of her life, an American called Allan. I also loved reading about Doris´s life in the 30s in Paris as a fashion model.

The book has been beautifully written. At times, I found it difficult jumping between the past and present and wanted more time to focus on Doris´s life in the past. Somtimes it was overly melodramatic however this did not take away from my appreciation of the novel.

I really look forward to reading further books from Sofia Lundberg and I am very thankful to receive an advance copy of The Red Address Book!

A great read 4.5*
when I first started I wasn't sure it was going to be for me, but I very quickly got into it and enjoyed it more and more as it went on.
By the end, I was an emotional wreck!
A fantastic story of love surviving all odds. Covering over 80 years and several countries, it was an informative journal of past times.

Doris lives alone in Sweden. Every day carer’s come into her home to spend some time with her. They check her health and prepare a meal for her, then she is left alone.
Doris uses the Internet to communicate with her great niece in San Francisco.
When Doris is alone, she spends time going through her red address book and remembering the people who were once important in her life and recording her memories in notes for her great niece, Jenny. Most of the people in Doris’s address book have been crossed out with the word dead written in the margin.
Doris starts her memories when she was ten years old in 1928 when she received the red address book for her birthday.
This novel is set in Sweden, France, England and United States. It is set in the present time with flash backs from 1928 to the present time. It is love story about families, friendships and grief.
I loved the way Doris’s life story was told through the memories of the people recorded in the Red Address book and how Doris tries to inspire Jenny to follow her dreams.

Beautiful. Tender. Gripping. Well written.
Everyone will love this book. No matter age or what genre they prefer.
Looking back on her life it’s a book of stories and a mystery: where is Allan?
4/5 on good reads

What a wonderful book. It has been a complete pleasure to lose myself in this story - in Sweden, Paris and New York. And yes, it made me cry.

It was 1928 and Doris had just celebrated her 10th birthday. Her Pappa gave her a present and she could see from twinkle in his eyes that is was something special. As she folded back the tissue paper she revealed a beautiful address book, bound in red leather, in which she was to record all the people she met during her life.

We meet Doris some 80 years later as she is nearing the end of her life. We learn her life story, told through the people in the address book, who are now sadly all annotated as 'DEAD'. The story takes us across the world, and we learn of the hardship and suffering Doris experienced, as well as her true love.

The narrative alternates between chapters in the present tense, which tell us of Doris's struggle with old age and the frustration of relying on carers, with chapters in the past tense which introduce us to the people who have been important in her life.

In some ways it is a simple story, but it left me with a very powerful message that you can only move forward in your life: you cannot freeze the perfect moments and the scars of the tough times may remain with you, but today is still there for you. And what we can wish for, is the blessing the Doris's mother sent with her, that we will have enough.

My sincere thanks to both the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

I read this book in a day more or less it just took me ages to write a review. I have to say I loved it. I love older people's stories and their dreams and hopes and what happened to them. I cannot be the only one, books featuring very old people seem to be published at an amazing rate these days. And this is like the one that started a genre is also Swedish.

This is the story of Doris a 96-year-old who lives on her own in her Stockholm flat.

Doris has an address book where she keeps the contacts of those she knows and over the year she crosses names off as they die. You can imagine that if you live to be 96 most people you have known, would be dead.

But it is not just about names, Doris had an eventful life, lived in different places and met many interesting people. Now her contacts with the outside world are mainly through the carer and her grandniece who lives in California and regularly calls her grand-aunt on Skype. Most of the book is about them and Doris' past but frequently comes back to the present.

This is one of the books that makes you love the main character and nearly immediately you will find you have an emotional connection with her.