This is one of my favorites of the year so far. It reminds me a bit of A Man Called Ove, which I also really enjoyed, but I really liked how this book included a lot more history of the main character.
Eudora Honeysett is 85-years-old, lives alone with her crotchety old cat, and outside of occasionally swimming laps at the local pool, is just sitting around and waiting to die. In fact, she’s so ready to call the ballgame that she’s made a plan to go to a clinic in Switzerland as soon as they accept her application. But she’s not anticipating new next door neighbors with a 10-year-old mismatched and bullied girl named Rose who decides to make Eudora her best friend and take her on a bunch of adventures. Another elderly widower, Stanley, rounds out the trio, and Eudora starts to remember her own traumatic childhood more. In alternating chapters, we learn about why Eudora has never married, why she has no family, and why she wants to decide her future.
The Eudora-Rose-Stanley trio is a group of characters that won’t be forgotten any time soon. Rose is older and wiser than she should be for having lived only a decade, and perhaps Eudora never developed the same social and emotional skills because of her childhood and young adult years. These three characters were all inherently likable, even though I felt such sympathy for them through so much of the book. But it’s rare that an author creates characters that are so supportive of each other, even as they each struggle with their own demons.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and The Book Club Girl with William Morrow in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.