A sweet, small book that teeters on the edge of Hallmark-movie territory but thankfully doesn't quite fall in. It's soothing and optimistic, with all the plot lines neatly tied up at the end.
Arthur Pepper is a sixty-nine year old retired widower living in the suburbs of York, England. Miriam, his wife of over forty years, passed away unexpectedly and he is facing both the one-year anniversary of her death and his upcoming seventieth birthday. Since Miriam's death Arthur has been cloistering himself in his house, following a very set routine and has more or less removed himself from the world. His daughter lives nearby but is occupied with her own problems and his son has made a life in Australia for himself, his wife and children. A few neighbors look in on him but he essentially keeps to himself.
Everything changes when Arthur decides it is time to pack up and give away Miriam's clothing. He discovers an unfamiliar gold charm bracelet tucked away into the toe of a boot, and he starts to wonder where this item came from and what the charms may have meant to her.
Arthur and Miriam had lived a very quiet life together, watching their TV programs, taking modest trips to the seaside, and treating themselves to the occasional dessert or fish and chips. All he knew of Miriam was the always-correct organized wife and mother who wore tonally-shaded clothes and comfortable shoes. None of that fit with the elaborate bracelet he has found and his curiosity motivates him. As a result, he sets off on an unexpected odyssey where he must confront new and at times, alarming, developments that make it clear that Miriam had a very different life before they met.
Some of Arthur's encounters are quite improbable but they are imaginative. Others seem somewhat formulaic and a touch clichéd. In the context of this story, those particular developments are forgivable and don't really take away too much from the gentleness of Arthur's story.
At the end of it all, Arthur and his fellow characters find satisfaction and resolution in positive ways. There are no unexpected great revelations here, and nothing of the subtlety and wit of masters of the human condition like Alexander McCall Smith, but this is a charming, if rather slight book with which to while away some downtime. It provides all the comfort and familiarity of a favorite childhood food, or as the British would say, a nursery pudding, without asking a lot of the reader.
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