Friday 13 July 2018

The Forgotten Guide to Happiness - by Sophie Jenkins

Original Cover
My own copy


The blurb: 

Sometimes, happiness can be found where you least expect it… 
Twenty-eight-year-old Lana Green has never been good at making friends. She’s perfectly happy to be left alone with her books. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Nancy Ellis Hall was once a celebrated writer. Now eighty, she lives alone in her North London house, and thinks she’s doing just fine. But dementia is loosening Nancy’s grip on the world.

When Lana and Nancy become unconventional house mates, their lives will change in ways they never expected. But can an unusual friendship rescue two women who don’t realise they need to be saved?

An irresistible story of love, memory and the power of friendship that readers of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Lido will adore.


My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Lana Green is a writer, who is now trying to write her second book, after having successfully published Love Crazy. It was based on her real life experiences and now that her boyfriend is gone, with no goal to come back anytime soon, she doesn’t know what to write about. Lana doesn’t know what to do and her financial problems don’t help at all. 

Lana starts looking after Nancy Ellis Hall, a once successful writer, who suffers from dementia now. She also starts spending a lot of time with Nancy’s stepson Jack. The two of them get along really well and I really adored their scenes and moments together. He made her enjoy life again and she finally had something to write about again. I definitely felt a chemistry between them, but for Lana it wasn’t an obvious connection at all. It all gets destroyed when her former boyfriend Mark comes back. 

Lana also started teaching literary classes, where she made new friends. When Mark is back, she just goes back to him, as if nothing happened. That’s where I kind of lost interest in the book, because I didn’t understand her decision and her actions. 

The characters, who kept me in the book were Jack and Nancy. He was a lovely character, with a great heart and a lot of passion. Nancy is so sweet and I think the author found a great way to include dementia in this story.

The ending was a bit confusing in my eyes and I just couldn’t find a connection to Lana anymore. 

Sophie Jenkins writing is cute, quirky and enjoyable, but I really struggled with the flow of the story. 

Rating:





Sophie Jenkins on Twitter: @sophiejenkinsuk

1 comment:

  1. It sounds nice for a rainy day, lovely balanced review.
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