A heart-warming story about friendship, love and new beginnings.
Through the voices of not only her trio of main characters, but each of her subsidiary characters (especially Jo’s neighbouring shop owners, gentle-giant Eric the Viking/optician, with his walrus-like laugh, and Lando the tattoo artist … as well as all the historic characters ‘encountered’ in Highgate Cemetery), the author has provided her readers with this delightful story about friendship, love and new beginnings. I enjoyed how she controlled the narrative with her slow revelations about the back-histories of each of the characters, thus creating stories within stories and providing a credible psychological underpinning to her storytelling. Although this is in many ways an easy, undemanding read, I also found it a surprisingly moving and thought-provoking one.
A central message in the novel is that all friendships are precious and that, whatever your age, it’s never too late to make new ones. Although a few may last a lifetime, many are time-limited, with people coming into our lives at certain points in time but then, once a particular need has been met, either we, or they, move on, and we need to be able to ‘let them go’ without feeling either guilty or angry. However, what links all types of friendship, no matter how long or short, is the need for us to cherish and nurture them and to do all we can not to neglect them. I think most of us have someone we would describe as a best friend and so Ruth’s reflection that having a best friend can be a lifelong love, that “there is a fundamental truth, comfort and joy in having a best friend” captured the essence of these extra-special relationships. Another recurring message is that feeling weighed down by regrets is counter-productive and that we’d be better off taking heed of George Eliot’s advice that “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” … advice each of these characters has embraced by the time the story draws to an end.
Even as a young child I loved going into stationery shops (I still find them hard to resist!) and particularly recall the excitement of buying new supplies at the beginning of each school year, memories which made it very easy to immediately identify with Jo’s desire to expand and improve her Uncle Wilbur’s shop. Although not as often as I used to (ubiquitous email exchanges have become far too common!), I still use a fountain pen and carefully choose lovely stationery when I write special letters and cards to friends and family. So, what a delight it was to discover that when the author couldn’t find a fountain pen she wanted (traditional and weighty, but in a glorious colour) she created her own range, establishing ‘Plooms’, a company which offers a wonderful selection of pens, inks, traditional blotters and beautifully illustrated notecards … and now that I’ve had a look at what’s on offer how can I possibly be expected to resist giving in to temptation!
A central message in the novel is that all friendships are precious and that, whatever your age, it’s never too late to make new ones. Although a few may last a lifetime, many are time-limited, with people coming into our lives at certain points in time but then, once a particular need has been met, either we, or they, move on, and we need to be able to ‘let them go’ without feeling either guilty or angry. However, what links all types of friendship, no matter how long or short, is the need for us to cherish and nurture them and to do all we can not to neglect them. I think most of us have someone we would describe as a best friend and so Ruth’s reflection that having a best friend can be a lifelong love, that “there is a fundamental truth, comfort and joy in having a best friend” captured the essence of these extra-special relationships. Another recurring message is that feeling weighed down by regrets is counter-productive and that we’d be better off taking heed of George Eliot’s advice that “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” … advice each of these characters has embraced by the time the story draws to an end.
Even as a young child I loved going into stationery shops (I still find them hard to resist!) and particularly recall the excitement of buying new supplies at the beginning of each school year, memories which made it very easy to immediately identify with Jo’s desire to expand and improve her Uncle Wilbur’s shop. Although not as often as I used to (ubiquitous email exchanges have become far too common!), I still use a fountain pen and carefully choose lovely stationery when I write special letters and cards to friends and family. So, what a delight it was to discover that when the author couldn’t find a fountain pen she wanted (traditional and weighty, but in a glorious colour) she created her own range, establishing ‘Plooms’, a company which offers a wonderful selection of pens, inks, traditional blotters and beautifully illustrated notecards … and now that I’ve had a look at what’s on offer how can I possibly be expected to resist giving in to temptation!