we spend too much time obsessing about finding "the one", and we forget that a best friend can be a lifelong love. There is a fundamental truth, comfort and joy in having a best friend.
I usually end my review with my favorite quote from whatever book I am reviewing, but here I am, starting off my review with it instead, because this quote contains the essence of The Book of Beginnings.
This is a book about the importance of friendships; old, new and fleeting. This is a book that made me look more closely at my friendships, and even more closely at myself and how good a friend I am or am not, as the case may be. It made me recall friends long gone and think of friends I treasure. It made me look at people I once regarded as friends and whom I let down, or who let me down. It is a book that brings comfort and joy and imparts great wisdom in an entertaining, warm and captivating manner.
I loved and adored everything about The Book of Beginnings. I loved the characters - real people, people I would like to be friends with. Jo has just had her life tipped upside down; dumped by the long-term boyfriend she thought she was going to marry, she takes refuge by taking over her Uncle Wilbur's business when he falls ill. There she meets, amongst others, an elderly man who buys a notebook each week for the research he is doing for a book he intends to write; a Vicar who has run away from her parish; and two men who operate businesses in the same lane as her uncle - Eric the Viking and Lando. She also realises that there is something wrong with the relationship between herself and her best friend, Lucy, and wants to put it right.
There is so much fun, joy and comfort to be had in this book. It is has reignited my interest in poetry, which I have not read for more years than I can remember, fountain pens and beautiful stationery. There are some beautiful and entirely apt quotations included in the text. There is so much wisdom. But it is not a 'preachy' book; the wisdom is seamlessly woven into the plot. A lot of it comes from the mouth of the very surprising Reverend Ruth Hamilton. I wish I knew someone like her.
If you only read one book this year, please make it The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page. You won't regret it. If nothing else, you will come away with a marvelous method of dealing with scam callers. For me, personally, reading this book was like being wrapped in a warm, loving hug.
I usually end my review with my favorite quote from whatever book I am reviewing, but here I am, starting off my review with it instead, because this quote contains the essence of The Book of Beginnings.
This is a book about the importance of friendships; old, new and fleeting. This is a book that made me look more closely at my friendships, and even more closely at myself and how good a friend I am or am not, as the case may be. It made me recall friends long gone and think of friends I treasure. It made me look at people I once regarded as friends and whom I let down, or who let me down. It is a book that brings comfort and joy and imparts great wisdom in an entertaining, warm and captivating manner.
I loved and adored everything about The Book of Beginnings. I loved the characters - real people, people I would like to be friends with. Jo has just had her life tipped upside down; dumped by the long-term boyfriend she thought she was going to marry, she takes refuge by taking over her Uncle Wilbur's business when he falls ill. There she meets, amongst others, an elderly man who buys a notebook each week for the research he is doing for a book he intends to write; a Vicar who has run away from her parish; and two men who operate businesses in the same lane as her uncle - Eric the Viking and Lando. She also realises that there is something wrong with the relationship between herself and her best friend, Lucy, and wants to put it right.
There is so much fun, joy and comfort to be had in this book. It is has reignited my interest in poetry, which I have not read for more years than I can remember, fountain pens and beautiful stationery. There are some beautiful and entirely apt quotations included in the text. There is so much wisdom. But it is not a 'preachy' book; the wisdom is seamlessly woven into the plot. A lot of it comes from the mouth of the very surprising Reverend Ruth Hamilton. I wish I knew someone like her.
If you only read one book this year, please make it The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page. You won't regret it. If nothing else, you will come away with a marvelous method of dealing with scam callers. For me, personally, reading this book was like being wrapped in a warm, loving hug.