First of all, I love a ‘starting over’ story. Give me a novel that drops the main character somewhere new, amongst people she’s not quite sure about, then throw some challenges at her, and I’m hooked.
I loved that about Fredrik Backman’s Brit-Marie was Here, Anxious People, and My Friends. What an outstanding writer he is! His characters are faced with what might sound like weird circumstances, but he makes it work so well. I had a hard time putting his books down at night and couldn’t wait to pick them up again the next day.
In the kayak rental shop, where Sheila’s challenged with either losing her long-awaited trip or joining a bunch of noobs, I’m sure the shit’s gonna hit the fan. And of course she takes her chances. But the twist on the beach is an odd one that sends her in a whole new direction.
So do her travels once she’s home. And this is the part I like best: coming ‘home’ to find that maybe it’s not really the sanctuary you might have thought it was.
She sets off on yet another journey and this one spans a good portion of Southcentral Alaska’s road system. And the people she meets along the way are the kind you’d meet at your own local bakery or library. Interesting, unique, and yet they, too, are looking for something that’s missing.
If this sounds like your kind of book, read more here, where there’s a link to the entire first chapter.
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