When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell's happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she’s been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, a sky-high real estate market forces her to rent a room in a stranger’s house, and everyone has seemingly perfect Instagram-ready lives. Starting from scratch she feels like a f##k up ... a forty-something f##k up.
Landing a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an 80-something widow with challenges of her own. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and joy. With Cricket’s help, Nell is determined to turn her life around. First, though, she has a confession.
Nell is 40-something. She had thought by now her life would have been settled. Instead, she has moved back home to live with her parents in England after spending five years living in California, eventually becoming engaged and then breaking up with Ethan and losing everything when their restaurant closed.
Nell is starting over, surviving thanks to a loan from her father and a freelance job writing obituaries. She is renting a room from Edward, a 40-something family man who goes to his country home on the weekends and expects Nell to take care of Arthur, his big hairy dog, when he's not there (in exchange for lower rent). All her friends have moved on and are married with children. She meets 80-something Cricket when she wrote her late husband's obituary and they become friends.
As an creative outlet, Nell starts a podcast that she assumes no one will listen to and is surprised when it starts gaining in popularity. Plus she daily keeps track of things she is grateful for.
I thought this was a cute book and liked it. It's written in first person perspective in Nell's voice. It takes place in London, England, so there were references to things I wasn't familiar with and sometimes Googled them. I liked Nell and Cricket and thought they were fun together. Given her age and circumstance, I liked Cricket's spirit. As a head's up, there is swearing.
