All The Lonely People: From the Richard and Judy bestselling author of Half a World Away comes a warm, life-affirming story – the perfect read for these times

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Loneliness has become the focus of a national conversation with many organisations and charities seeing it as a modern epidemic, despite us having more ways to communicate with each other than ever before in history. Type ‘loneliness’ into Google and you’ll get everyone from the Co-op to Age UK cropping up. The Goodreads’ “if you liked this, read these” recommendations are really spot on and I did love quite a few of those selections (and have at least one on my soon-to-read list) so if you love to read about these hermit-like peeps there’s a bounty of options out there. Facing a severe labor shortage after World War II, the British government began encouraging mass immigration from citizens of its colonies. This position was bolstered by the British Nationality Act of 1948, which combined the citizenship of Britain and its colonies and permitted these groups to enter the United Kingdom. try the 6 ways to feel happier, which are simple lifestyle changes to help you feel more in control and able to cope The writing is just so wonderfully gripping it’s impossible not to fall in love with these characters. Which also meant the sad moments hit me hard

Parcels, parcels, parcels! All day, every day, for people who are never in to receive the damn things! If people want them things so much why them no just buy it from the shops like everybody else?" Sara has struggled with her mental health throughout her life. She has ADHD and is bisexual, which she feels create additional barriers to connecting with people.I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle was such a special book. The story plot was completely engaging; it was funny, heartwarming, and so well written. The story begins with main character Hubert Bird, an 84 yo Jamaican widower living in London alone. With no friends and living a lonely solitary life, all he looked forward to on a weekly basis was a phone call from his daughter Rose, from Australia. Hubert for the last five years had created a complex story about his imaginary friends Dotty, Dennis and Harvey to keep his daughter from worrying about him. Now Rose wants to visit London, and Hubert only has a few days to make his imaginary friends into reality, which means Hubert has to open himself up to forge new friendships. I would highly recommend this book to others. I found this to be a wonderful story about the life of a man with an interesting story to tell. I definitely plan to read more of this author’s work in the future. But only recently has medicine studied the links between relationships and health. In 2015 a meta-analysis led by Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University, in Utah, synthesised 70 papers, through which 3.4m participants were followed over an average of seven years. She found that those classed as lonely had a 26% higher risk of dying, and those living alone a 32% higher chance, after accounting for differences in age and health status.

That the problem exists is obvious; its nature and extent are not. Obesity can be measured on scales. But how to weigh an emotion? Researchers start by distinguishing several related conditions. Loneliness is not synonymous with social isolation (how often a person meets or speaks to friends and family) or with solitude (which implies a choice to be alone). In alternating chapters of the present and the past, we glean in the past, a young Hubert Bird as he arrived to London from Jamaica as a young man experiencing first love, racism and the struggles of a young mixed race family in 1950’s London. She was all alone in an unfamiliar place. She was a single mom with no support system or job initially. Child care seemed to be one of her biggest hardships, which is how she first met Hubert. Ashley was an outgoing social person, so she craved ... - margiec This was fantastic! I decided to read this book because I liked the sound of it and it was better than I could have hoped it would be. I was drawn into this story of Hubert Bird’s life right away and became more and more enthralled as I worked my way through the book. I am so glad that I took a chance on this book!

Despite Hubert’s initial resistance, the pair become friends and end up spearheading a campaign to combat loneliness when they realise that they aren’t the only ones suffering this affliction. Hubert becomes the poster boy and even ends up on Phil and Holly’s sofa. Another villain in the contemporary debate is technology. Smartphones and social media are blamed for a rise in loneliness in young people. This is plausible. Data from the OECD club of mostly rich countries suggest that in nearly every member country the share of 15-year-olds saying that they feel lonely at school rose between 2003 and 2015. Buried along with her name" seems to indicate that she was the last of her family, having no relatives, siblings or children of her own to continue the family bloodline, maybe she was the last remaining "Rigby" from her family circle and nobody left to carry the surname on. Isolation is increasing in other ways, too. From 1985 to 2009 the average size of an American’s social network—defined by number of confidants—declined by more than one-third. Other studies suggest that fewer Americans join in social communities like church groups or sports teams.

What? Helping lonely people? There's nothing daft about that, darling. Nothing daft at all. Count me in.” I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel-good read. All The Lonely People would also make an excellent choice for book clubs.

Then, out-of-the-blue, Rose tells Hubert she's coming home for a visit and she wants to meet his friends, Dotty, Dennis and Harvey. She wants to thank all three of them for their friendship with her father. In the last couple of years public awareness of loneliness and the impact that being persistently lonely can have on well-being and quality of life has grown with campaigns such as Age UK’s No One Should Have No One, the work of the Jo Cox Commission and the Government’s appointment of a Minister for Loneliness. For further information, please visit here.