A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over

You don’t have to be a woman to enjoy this novel.

Molly, the narrator/main character/widow, is British, restrained, and careful. She only opens up to her jealous and possessive dead husband, who talks to her frequently and gives her advice.

But fifty-year-old Molly feels real, and you can’t help but empathize with her and wish her well. Through all her everyday concerns — running a bookstore, interacting with friends, and awkwardly trying to meet eligible men — you get to know her and come to like her. You gradually become friends with her. Her concerns become your concerns, even if such matters were of no interest to you before (like choices of food and clothing and details of how to run a successful brick-and-mortar bookstore).

The pages race by, and you root for her to finally realize (as you knew from the opening pages) that her generous, helpful next-door neighbor is the natural partner for her. You wish them both well in their low-key, slow-burning, long-burning passion for one another. And you’ll miss them both — but mostly her — when the story ends.

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