What is it: a heart-warming story
Did I like it: I was absolutely charmed
Arthur Pepper is a widower living in a suburb of York (the Old one). Losing his wife was hard on him and he has had difficulty moving on, of finding a new way to live life on his own. Arthur never had any real friends and his son and daughter are very much leading their own lives. His son lives in Australia with his family and his daughter lives nearby in York and neither of them attended their mother’s funeral. This was a great pain to Arthur but he’s too polite to mention it whenever they call.
On the anniversary of his wife’s death he goes to clean out her closet and finds a charm bracelet. It contains an elephant, a painter’s palette, a flower, a thimble, a tiger, a book, a ring and a heart. Upon closer inspection the elephant charm has a phone number engraved on it and before he knows what he’s doing, he’s calling the number. It turns out he’s calling India and when he mentions his wife’s name, a man starts to tell a story about his former babysitter. This confuses Arthur because his wife never told him she had ever been to India, let alone to work as a babysitter. But the conversation with the Indian man sparks something in Arthur and curiosity gets the best of him so he starts to think about the other charms and what they could further reveal about his late wife.
So, for the first time in a year, Arthur has found purpose again and sets out on a road trip, hitching a ride with his neighbour Bernadette and her teenage son. And so starts an adventure Arthur didn’t know he needed or wanted, but he ends up enjoying nonetheless.
Arthur is a man very much set in his ways. He always wears the same outfits, and has the same meals. He keeps the house the way his wife liked and prefers to go into statue mode when someone’s knocking on the door rather than having to invite them in. The only thing he picked up since his wife’s passing, is caring for Frederica the fern. For him to go out on a spontaneous trip is a lot and his daughter Lucy has a hard time believing it, instead fearing he is starting to lose his mind and she starts looking into assisted living homes in the area.
But, going out and meeting new people makes Arthur realize just how small his world had gotten, and that he’s too young to waste away behind closed curtains. The trip doesn’t limit itself about learning of his wife’s life from before they met; it’s a trip of self-discovery as well.
Arthur is a delightful character who is not afraid to do some soul-searching and confronts his own flaws. At nearly seventy he learns to make friends and to take an interest in things that happen outside of his home. He’s sometimes hesitant to try new things, but eventually does jump into the deep end.
I thought this was a very charming story and I enjoyed every page of it.
Bookworm in the City 