{Review} The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey (@BethMorrey @PutnamBooks)

For readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and A Man Called Ove, a life-affirming, deeply moving "coming-of-old" story, a celebration of how ordinary days are made extraordinary through friendship, family, and the power of forgiving yourself--at any age.

Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Woman meets dog...

The world has changed around Missy Carmichael. At seventy-nine, she's estranged from her daughter, her son and only grandson live across the world in Australia, and her great love is gone. Missy spends her days with a sip of sherry, scrubbing the kitchen in her big empty house and reliving her past--though it's her mistakes, and secrets, that she allows to shine brightest. The last thing Missy expects is for two perfect strangers and one spirited dog to break through her prickly exterior and show Missy just how much love she still has to give. Filled with wry laughter and deep insights into the stories we tell ourselves, The Love Story of Missy Carmichael shows us it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. It's never too late to love.

​Missy Carmichael feels as if she’s been set adrift on an endless ocean.  After the loss of her beloved husband Leo, she can’t seem to find a reason to venture out of her sprawling old home.  Her children rarely visit and all that she truly has after seventy-nine years of life is crippling regret. 
 
She never ventures far from home.  Preferring to rattle around her house alone.  But one rainy afternoon, a visit to a local park changes her life completely.

One minute you’re gliding along, not a care in the world, and the next a huge prod appears and knocks you for six, and then everything is different and you’re gasping with the shock of it. And there’s no triumph in survival, because you’re just swimming round and round endlessly in a new lake, mouthing pointlessly. I’d rather someone put me out of my misery. Ashes to ashes. The breathlessness, back. Plash, whoosh, thud. I could look the other way, then it would go away. Don’t think, don’t think. Thud, thud, thud. I clutched the railings, trying to ignore the looming branches above, but my skin prickled around the edges, flared, and I felt myself fall amidst reaching hands and faraway shouts as the blackness took over…

​An eclectic group of characters come crashing into her world – a single mum named Angela and her precocious young son Otis, Sylvie with her fabulous flair and an adorable dog named Bobby. 
 
Together, they fill Missy’s days with friendship and love. And it’s that love that gives her the strength to mend the wounds of the past.

Did I have much to offer? Six months ago I’d have said I had very little, but lately I’d felt a sense of optimism creeping up on me—the idea that there were things to look forward to, that I had options, was a heady feeling. Yet I worried my newfound zest was a flimsy thing, as brittle and crumbly as Otis’s cheese straws. Would Leo have been proud? He would probably have grumbled about me being out all the time—he liked having me around, even when he was closeted in his study. He used to say he could feel my presence in the house even if he couldn’t see or hear me, and that it was comforting. I felt the same. But he wasn’t around anymore, and I had to live with that.

​The Love Story of Missy Carmichael is a poignant journey from loneliness to light.  Beth Morrey starts with a somber landscape and then makes it shine. As the bond between each of the characters grows, so does Missy’s universe.  But it was her devotion to both the young Otis and Bobby that moved me in unexpected ways.
 
Love, family and friendship are tested and then strengthened.  And on every page the ageless power of the soul sings loud and clear....