Great read. Sensitive & emotional. Makes one realise that life has many twists and turns but that happiness comes when one least expects it even in loneliness.

Found it a bit slow but had an interesting storyline. It's abit of a chick lit type book, and I enjoyed reading and following her journey from loneliness to finding her place.

When I saw this book was a must for fans of Eleanor Oliphant I grabbed it straight away.  

We are introduced to Millicent Carmichael and her lonely life.. a series of coincidences and bravery on Missy's part sees her life change direction in a way she would never have anticipated.

The characters she meets along this journey jump off the page, they are vivid and well written.   There is a bit of mystery and suspense and heartache.  

You know when you read a book and you just know something is building and despite your best efforts it makes you cry like a baby.

I loved this book and will certainly look out for this author in the future.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

This is a delightful book, the demographics will mostly appeal to older readers, parents who have survived teenagers and young adults holding breath for the moment when they leave home! Ahh! the tranquility.

However, the thought of the empty nest is not a joyous one for the main character, Missy (Millicent) who is similar to those women who have given up all ideas of a career after having children leaving the thought of her empty large house with her rattling around in it alone only intensifying her depression and loneliness. However, it seems that Missy has really been alone all her married life propped up by alcohol. A successful husband, Leo, who as a parent did just the play thing with the children leaving Missy to do the real parenting. She has a strong relationship with her son who has to her dismay married an Australian and has moved to that part of the world. Ali (Alister) and her grandson Arthur have just returned to Australia after spending Christmas with her and she is in an emotional black hole. Her relationship with her daughter, is tenuous, her daughter is successful like her father and with a similar personality. The two have had a terrible argument but the details are not revealed for sometime into the read.

Missy has decided to get out of the house, Leo's voice in her head, "onward and upward", so she's off to see the fish stunning in the local park. It's here when she blacks out that Missy's life does an about face and her world begins to take on a new meaning filled with an assortment of colourful people that begin to enter her life. This is a woman who has always been a giver, never asking for much in return and is a bit of an easy target for these pushy new friends but the reward is that she begins to look at herself in a new light and it's fabulous to see how she grows, finds her own voice, flexes her muscles, opens her heart and learns to role with the punches when small disasters happen, life! Her relationship with her daughter improves, she accepts that her grandson's Australian grandparents will adore Arthur as much as she does and she is eventually able to absolve herself of the guilt of a decision made as a young woman that has been a burden all her life.

Millicent (or “Missy”) Carmichael is in her late seventies. She lives alone in a large house and is irritable, lonely and depressed. Her son Alistair and only grandchild Arthur live in Australia and she is estranged from her daughter Melanie. She ponders her purpose in life, whether she has outstayed her welcome and compares her existence to an “… abstract, galactic isolation, like a leaking boat bobbing in open water, no anchor or land in sight.”

But help is at hand following a random encounter with single mother Angela and her delightful son Otis, then the flamboyant designer Sylvie and the unexpected temporary companionship of a dog called Bob (later changed to Bobby). Although initially fearful and reserved with her new friends - and greatly alarmed at the prospect of having to care for a dog - slowly but surely Missy is drawn into the lives of these individuals, plus others, and finds a new self-confidence and optimism in the process.

The story has elements of gentle humour as well as serious reflections and includes flashbacks to Missy’s earlier life and marriage to author Leo. Missy was a victim of her times, expected to play the dutiful wife of a successful man, and her regrets include a tragic secret that she kept from Leo. The ending has a twist in that the initial assumption one makes about Leo turns out to be incorrect.

The characters are well-drawn, even if Missy can sometimes seem a wee bit irritating in her insecurity and hesitation in the presence of more assertive and confident individuals, although she does finally find her true voice and bare all (or nearly all!) when coming to the defence of one of her new friends.

This is a charming story that will appeal to a wide audience as it tackles the very real issues of loneliness and depression in old age in a sympathetic fashion. However, on a more serious note, this reviewer of a certain age senses the author is very much younger than her protagonist and through the book she expresses her heathfelt desire for older people to be happy. A noble gesture in fiction perhaps, while the practical reality is that for the most part our modern self-absorbed and youth-obsessed society is geared in such a way that there is scant interest in rescuing women like Missy from their leaking boats.

Four stars.

(With many thanks to Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the ARC)

I don't usually go for books like this and certainly wouldn't have read it had I read the synopsis... BUT I enjoyed it thoroughly. Well-written and well-paced, I tore through this book in two or three sittings. It's clever, at times humorous,

More than the 'love story' they're billing it as, I really enjoyed how it touched on the immense fears and thoughts of a lonely older woman with nothing to do, and how those beliefs go ahead to shape what's deemed possible or not. Themes which apply to everyone, at any point in their life, however, much easier to see when exaggerated through the main character, Missy.

Smart writing, really likeable characters and, although I'm the complete opposite of an 80-year old British grandmother without friends, I completely empathised with her throughout it all.

As an aside, two things stood out for me apart from what I've already said:

1 - There's a really bad ass scene where 80-year old Missy scares off an aggressive man outside her friends house in a cleverly orchestrated way.
2 - The 'twist' near the end was something I didn't see coming at all, which made me like this book even more. Good writing.

I've read nothing by Beth Morrey previously and having received this as an ARC and thoroughly enjoyed it, I'll likely dip into whatever else the author has written. Good stuff.

A charming, unique story about life, it’s frailty and beauty. I thoroughly enjoyed this book will be looking out for more from this talented author. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Missy opens her morning paper and immediately flips to the obituaries. David Bowie has died.

“At my age, reading obituaries is a generational hazard, contemporaries dropping off, one by one; each announcement an empty chamber in my own little revolver. For a while I tried to turn a blind eye, as if ignoring death could somehow fob it off. But people kept dying and other people kept writing about it, and some perverse imp obliged me to keep up to date.”

Missy had finally made her mind up to go to the park and watch them electrocute the fish, so that she will have something to talk about with Arthur, her beloved grandson. More and more these days she finds that she is doing things just to provide a story to share with her family.

As she watches the fish being stunned and captured, she feels herself falling, vision fading away to blackness.

Missy is awoken by a dog nuzzling her face and she finds that she has slipped from sitting on the bench to laying on the bench. A concerned group of people has gathered around her, one woman holds a wet napkin to her forehead. Missy’s embarrassment far outweighs any injury.

The lady introduces herself as Sylvie, inviting her to coffee. Sylvie is the first stranger that Missy has spoken to in weeks. A serendipitous moment? No, she declines.

She returns to an empty house. She laments that her darling grandson now lives in Australia and it is easy for the reader to see that Missy is very lonely and teetering on the edge of depression. We also learn that some incident with her daughter, Melanie, never leaves her mind for long and that it leaves her with a terrible feeling of guilt. Melanie has not been to visit since this incident occurred, adding to Missy’s loneliness.

Sylvie returns to the narrative, bumping into Missy at the chemist the next day. Again, she offers an invitation to a cup of coffee, again Missy declines. Sylvie tells Missy that no matter, they are bound to bump into each other again.

While trying to avoid one character, Missy is almost forced into friendship with another. At the coffee shop Missy witnesses a fight between two women. One of them is Angela who was invited to coffee with her by Sylvie back at the park a couple of days ago. Angela attaches herself to Missy like a limpet mine and follows her home asking questions, barging into the house, almost uninvited. She is such a wonderful character, an example of how Angela talks,

“Plus she thinks I should have married Otis’s father, Sean, even though he’s a useless twat. But he’s a useless twat from our village, so ideal marriage material. And now she’s come for a visit, so I’m sleeping on the sofa and she’s asking why I haven’t bought a house yet, “Is it because of all the immigrants?” “Jesus Christ, I AM an immigrant,” I said. And she said, “Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”

Angela asks Missy to the park with her son, Otis. At the park they run into Sylvie who invites them back to her home. The feeling of serendipity is strong again and it feels as if these women were meant to become friends and just what Milly needs.

The narrative will go back in time to various points in Missy’s life. Important parts that shaped who she is today. We slowly get the complete painting of Missy, with chapters of her past like wide brushstrokes filling the canvas.

Later in the novel these jumps back in time will take place mid chapter, an object, such as a blow-up swimming pool, will trigger a memory and we will be whisked back in time, usually to an important anecdote. Dreams are also used to impart vital information from Missy’s past.

In a nutshell this is a story about a year in Missy’s life, and her change in attitude and confidence in her twilight years. This passage sums her changing feelings nicely as well as giving us an example of Morrey’s lovely writing style,

“Sylvie had a wonderful capacity for “philautia”, that boldest of Greek loves, the love of the self – a much finer quality than narcissism, which it’s often mistaken for. The way I saw it, with narcissism, you were just gazing at your reflection in a lake, with philautia, you were frolicking in the lake and inviting people to join you. People who truly liked themselves seemed to have a greater capacity for friendship, for letting people in. Perhaps that’s why I, in the past, was always rather solitary. But I liked to think I was starting to dip a toe in the waters.”

There is more to the narrative and a few surprises, however these should be left for the reader to discover as they are an integral part of the story and convey a powerful message. One message, without spoiling anything, is the incredible power of friendship, and the mountains it can move.

Sadly this beautiful tale must cut to the bone, be close to heart for many elderly people who have lost partners and family, and this story shows to never give up on life. Never let your age define you, after all it’s just a number. Don’t give in, you never know what, or more importantly who, is just around the corner.

4.5 Stars. (Have your tissues ready)