General Fiction – Annika Perry

Sometimes one just needs an embrace and Sally Page’s The Book of Beginnings is a huge enveloping hug of a novel!

The heart and soul of the book is about friendship and just as the characters in the book became firm friends, I felt just the same reading the chapters, joining them on their trails, their joys, and their journey to finding their true selves. By the end, it was hard to say goodbye to them all.

Within this beautifully crafted novel the author, through the close third person point of view, captures Jo Sorsby as she arrives in London and her uncle’s beloved albeit rather dated stationery shop. Sadly her Uncle Wilbur was recently diagnosed with dementia and Jo’s mother kindly asked if she would mind looking after the shop for a while. The answer was an unequivocal yes. (‘Sometimes a heartbeat is all the time it takes to reach a decision’.) Not only is Jo a stationery nerd with many happy memories of joining her uncle in his beloved place as a child, but she is also suffering following a recent break-up.

Quickly the reader is drawn into the profound loneliness and heartache of Jo’s life which is in the middle of a devastating flux following the break up of her long-term relationship with the infamous James. A man she realised everyone else detested. At last with the care and love from unexpected and unlikely new friends and childhood and work friends, Jo begins to understand James’s manipulation and control over her.

Her salvation is the shop and its quirky set of characters – two especially become her rock.

One is the wonderful and wise Vanishing Vicar, Reverend Ruth. What caused her to suddenly depart her parish home mid-meal? Ruth’s wit, inherent wisdom and kindness help Jo and others around her, yet at times such deep anxiety and sadness overwhelm her. How can Jo come to Ruth’s aid? A septuagenarian called Malcolm is another regular visitor and he seeks shelter in the shop following an accident. The tight-knit trio is formed and it is a joy to follow their quirky and close friendship as their journeys unfold and this includes their excursions to Highgate Cemetery to help Malcolm write his first ghost book; here they flit into the lives of some of the deceased, imagining their conversations.

Furthermore, as Jo begins to revel in the joy of discovering herself along the way she longs to unravel the stories and secrets around her including that of her best friend Lucy since primary school. Why has Lucy suddenly become withdrawn? She feels the distance and loss keenly, aware this is harder to bear than losing James. (‘Could an out-of-step friendship make you feel ill? Now, she thinks it can’)

As the unusual group becomes ever closer, Jo’s new neighbours also become pivotal in her life. Two neighbouring shops are the opticians and a tattoo parlour. Lando and his family become good friends. Meanwhile, Jo slowly begins to realise that Eric The Viking as she mentally labelled the optician, and embarrassingly blathered this out loud to him, could become important to her as they share much more than just a deep interest in fountain pens and poetry! Alas, following various misunderstandings her awakening of her feelings towards him seems to be too late.

Throughout the book, the customers of the shop are a delightful mix of people, their love of all things stationery creating fleeting friendships as she effectively creates a self-help environment.

Sally Page’s writing is superb, skilfully weaving the characters and their stories into this beautiful novel. At times it is almost lyrical, one saying Uncle Wilbur’s sayings runs like a chorus through the book, and Jo quickly realises that her uncle was referring to much more than fountain pens and paper when he said: ‘A place for everything and everything in its place.’ May we all remember this in our own lives!

I love how this wonderful whimsical cross-generational tale of friendship breaks down the barriers of loneliness and isolation faced by people at crisis points; friendships which continue into their everyday lives. After all, ‘the joy of having a best friend was one of humanity’s best-kept secrets.’

I love how quickly I became caught up in Jo’s and her friends’ lives.

I love the warm and engaging writing and story-telling.

I love stationery shops and by the end of the book eager to head out to buy a fountain pen, maybe one like the new ones bought into stock by Jo. Just like her many customers, I too have my own favourite fountain pen story!

Finally, as a huge fan of the author’s debut novel The Keeper of Stories, I am overjoyed to feel that her second novel is even better … I just hope I don’t have to wait too long for her next creative endeavour!

Many thanks to the publisher HarperCollins UK for granting my request to read a pre-release copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins UK

PUBLICATION DATE: 28th September 2023

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult), Romance, Women’s Fiction

AVAILABLE: AMAZON UK: KINDLE PAPERBACK Amazon US – hopefully it will soon be released in US soon.

ABOUT SALLY PAGE

After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. However, in her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. She soon came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and eventually she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author, Libby Page.

It’s not often I start a book and have absolutely no idea what it is about. NetGalley emailed me saying I’d been pre-approved for ‘The Food of Love’ and as that morning I’d just finished a rather graphic collection of Stephen King’s short stories I thought this gentle-sounding novel would be my soothing tonic.

‘The Food of Love’ – such a safe, innocuous title I immediately pictured romance centred on a taverna in Greece or a spy/love story set in Spain, the nights hot and with many evening scenes at a half-lit tapas restaurant.

I could not have been more mistaken, although my theory seemed to hold sway for the very first part of the book which starts with a family on holiday in the warm climes of Florida. Freya Braithwaite and her husband Lockie are walking through Old Naples one evening with their daughters, Charlotte and Lexi. Charlotte is quietly confident albeit cautious and sensible whilst her younger sister is the adventurous one who begs to be allowed to swim in the dark. Even as she is being warned about the dangers, including that of sharks, she refuses to obey and disappears off the sea wall into the blackness below.

This brief flashback sets the picture of a perfect happy harmonious family where love and laughter are the norm in their idyllic lifestyle. Eight years later the book begins properly with the Braithwaite family at home in the UK and quickly I became engrossed in their lives; Freya is a freelance food writer (extremely pertinent to the book), whilst her husband is a freelance photographer. The family are captured with poetic, lyrical ease and in small sketches the author reveals the everyday, the ordinary wonderful life. Of course, as with all good books I was by this stage on tether hooks, just waiting for the turn in the story, waiting for the drama, the chaos.

A phone call from the school provides the catalyst to the ensuing novel where a normal meeting with a teacher unveils the potential problem with one of her daughters. Freya’s gnawing anxiety ahead of the meeting is portrayed with truth and I could easily imagine myself in her position and Freya’s insistent rejection of the teacher’s insinuations is equally believable – there was no way Lexi could have an issue with food!

From hereon the book becomes a harrowing, even punishing read at times, as Lexi’s anorexia is dramatically discovered and her health rapidly deteriorates. The effects of her starvation are candidly described and the catalogue of Lexi’s increasingly critical health problems are meticulously revealed. Freya’s confusion, desperation and guilt is brilliantly captured whilst Lockie’s down-to-earth, angry reaction causes friction for the first time in their nineteen year marriage. He finds it increasingly impossible to accept what he sees as ‘pandering’ to Lexi as she undergoes various treatments. Furthermore the tension that has existed between the siblings continues to fester, especially since Charlotte finds herself sidelined, the milestones in her own life forgotten, ignored.

Although told from the third person perspective I identified closely with the characters, especially so with Freya and Lexi. The collapse of all their lives is told in raw albeit loving detail with the absurd amidst the calamity skilfully interwoven. Personally I found the topic uncomfortable, disturbing even and I would not be surprised if this holds true for many potential readers, however I can offer the assurance that it is handled with finesse and control; ultimately it is a book about four people thrown into the unknown and how we function as an individual, as a couple or as a family when faced with adversity, when the unimaginable becomes a reality and to what extent love can be the solution.

I read the book in two days and found it, to use that well-worn phrase, ‘unputdownable’ and this was partly down to the ‘countdown’ paragraphs at the end of each chapter. Set some time in the future, the clock starts with eight hours left as Freya prepares for the life-changing event, and together with Charlotte, she is desperately trying to compose a letter to Lexi. Events, memories from the past are unveiled as they struggle to compose their missives. The burning question is of course whether Lexi is alive or dead?

‘The Food of Love’ is a compelling, heart-wrenching, even painful book but all the same a heart-warming and rewarding novel which I can highly recommend to anyone with an interest in so-called ‘domestic’ dramas.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest and impartial review.