Saving Missy: The Sunday Times bestseller and the most heartwarming debut fiction novel of 2021

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When she spots young Otis in the park one day, that ache for her grandson intensifies. His redhead mother is obviously a terrible woman, loud, and unpleasant. Casually waiting for another glimpse of Otis, Missy meets interior designer Sylvie Riche and is invited for coffee along with Irish Angela and Otis. But do these people really want her company? I expect Olive Kitteridge has spoiled me for irritable, depressed old ladies who love and miss their sons. But Olive is definitely a one-off, so I shouldn’t hold that against everybody else, should I? I was raised studying the Bible with adults – and it’s the greatest book ever, right? So my literacy accelerated at a very young age. Books have just always been the thing; I’ve never been able to escape words. There’s two amazing things: being part of a community of brilliant people, and always having the ability to put your thoughts into words. Therapy is great – but it’s also great to be able to open your laptop and talk to yourself. The worst thing? So far, nothing!

Pondby Claire-Louise Bennett. It’s stunning. She’s also my friend! But we write completely differently: I think I give her a headache when I talk about all of my characters. While I enjoyed it, I wasn’t quite as enamoured of this book as some people I know were. However it is a good read and provides food for thought, especially about the way each of us treat others and the choices we make in life. Choices that can have far reaching impact. But sometimes a little kindness and concern can make all the difference. So a number of positives to come out of it, even if the main character is not always likable. An enjoyable read that will appeal to a lot of people.Wow! What a truly wonderful story, one that I one hundred percent recommend reading. It’s not often that a story is penned about an slightly older person, that’s the main reason why I liked reading Saving Missy is that it features a seventy-nine - year - old for a change instead of younger characters.

When Missy has unbent enough to accept the help and love and care on offer, it turns out she herself has more to offer than she ever dreamed. Missy discovers that, even in her eighty-first year, she can give comfort and support and knowledge to those who need it, something quite different from the role of a wife and mother that precluded any possible career her splendid degree might have offered. It is a novel full of human warmth, optimistic about overcoming depression. Missy’s story really spoke to one member of the group of depression, redundancy and feelings of pointlessness and worthlessness, till she meets a new world of people. She learns of the contrast between narcissism, an unhealthy self-obsession, contrasting with outward-looking joy in self, philautia, not a look at me type of self-love, but one which involved metaphorically jumping in puddles, splashing others and sharing joy. Although Missy is old and in a different stage of life to some of us, her story really reflected some of our own mental health struggles and showed the possibility of salvation. Interleaving chapters of narrative with those of memories gradually builds rounded pictures of Missy’s family, friends and acquaintances. In doing so, more is revealed about Missy herself, and the reader is drawn into her thoughts, feelings and emotions. As a former academic, I have known many Leos and worked beside many Melanies and Octavias. They, like Angela and Sylvie, were thoroughly convincing characters. Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this electronic ARC.And then there is the relationship with Bobby, a dog Missy grudgingly adopts. Missy and Bobby’s relationship is beautiful and for me, the true heart of the novel. I’m completely dependent on coffee but that’s not writing-specific: I’d be a shell of a human being without it.

Surveying the boxes, chests and trunks - the leftovers of lost lives: Fa-Fa, Jette, my mother and father, Leo, even Alistair and Mel, since they’d begun new lives elsewhere – I fancied I could hear the echo of them all in their things.” Bittersweet, tender, thoughtful and uplifting. Reminds you that everyone deserves a second chance. I loved it' Nina Stibbe, Reasons to be Cheerful I read an article by Richard Lloyd Parry of the Times about a real-life crime. In that case a marriage break-up agent had strangled his lover when she discovered his true profession and threatened to leave him. The agent was arrested at the scene and confessed to police, but as he was speaking to the police he said: “I loved her, I love her still.” And it’s the humanity of that original story that drew me to it.

LoveReading Says

As a reporter in India, I came across stories about the disappearance of children. More than 20 children had gone missing over two or three years and no action had been taken to find them because these people had no money or political power, and they were being ignored by government institutions. My interest was always in the children’s stories: I wondered what it would be like to be a child seeing your friends disappear and be aware you’re in danger yourself.

Starred Kirkus review: "Pain, grief, and hurt are all part of life in this moving portrayal of the many forms love can take." A deliciously uplifting and heartwarming tale that tugs on all your heartstrings (keep some tissues handy for one particularly emotional scene) and seeing life through new eyes in a near eighty year old woman gives the reader hope that we never need to be alone at any age. Moving but not sentimental … [a character] as complex, frustrating, vulnerable and surprising as any I’ve met in print’ Eleanor Wasserberg, author of Foxlowe One member of the group compared Saving Missy to being “Like manna from heaven”, another described it as “Brilliant” and a third read it all in one sitting, with just a brief break for dinner. Alistair is her son, her golden boy, the special child and father of her golden grandson, Arthur, but they aren’t nearby. Melanie is his older sister and lives closer, but Missy’s always clashed with her and frequently refers to her unforgiveable fight with her.

Best is having a book always humming in your mind. It’s really nice, even when something miserable happens in your day, to be able to think, maybe I can work that into the story. It helps you make sense of everything else in your life. Worst is people expecting you to be precious about your book and treat it like your baby, because I am not sentimental like that at all. For my mother, for instance, the idea of me being edited was this offensive thing, while I’m like: “Yeah, let’s get the scalpel out, let’s fix it.”