Blog touring today with this gem of a book! The Last List of Mabel Beaumont continued to surprise me with each page I read.
Blurb:
The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first…
Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow,always’.
But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’.
Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.
It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.
What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again…
A completely heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting story, guaranteed to make you smile but also make you cry. Perfect for fans of My Name is Ove, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and The Keeper of Stories.
My Review:
Arthur and Mabel have been married for over 60 years. He’s optimistic, a people-person, with a zest for life. She’s the polar opposite, and as time marches on, she becomes even more so. And then Arthur unexpectedly passes away … gently and quietly, just as he lived his life. Mabel wonders what on earth she’s supposed to do now, on her own. After all, Arthur was the planner, the organiser … the list-maker. She just followed his lead. Now she’s been left on her own, with Olly, the grouchy dog who made it very clear that he much preferred Arthur to her. She feels the need to constantly apologize to Olly that she was not the one who died.
But then Mabel finds that Arthur left her one, unfinished list: “Find D”. It’s cryptic, to say the least, and Mabel’s really not in any frame of mind for game-playing. But once she’s taken some time to think about it and to realize that her life didn’t stop when Arthur’s did, she gives the ‘list’ some thought. Could Arthur possibly have known he was dying? And did he mean that she should go and find her long-lost best friend Dot? She hasn’t seen her since she suddenly disappeared just before Mabel and Arthur got married. It’s been a very long time!
And so Mabel embarks on an adventure she never imagined possible, as she creates an ever-growing list of her own. Most surprising of all, she discovers that she is not quite as alone as she thought she was.
This book is an absolute gift! I loved it. It was so not what I was expecting. I enjoyed the way that the author introduced her various diverse themes into the story, and I particularly liked the way that Mabel literally seems to come to life more and more as she understands that she still has a life to live.
The friends she slowly begins to surround herself with (much to her astonishment) show her that everyone has their own secrets and struggles and that what you see on the surface might not actually reveal someone’s true inner story. People only tend to show the parts of themselves that they feel others can handle. Mabel slowly shows her new friends that despite having isolated herself for so long, she does actually have an innate understanding of the workings of the human spirit. She might not get things 100% right, but her perceptions are often spot-on. In turn, these women show Mabel the importance of having female friends, through all ages and stages of our lives, regardless of how strong our romantic and family ties might or might not be. Instead of experiencing deep regret for all the years she missed out on, Mabel instead embraces what she’s found, and makes the most of it, although she obviously wonders “What might have been?”.
It’s gorgeously written and the reader easily becomes absorbed in the story and invested in the characters and the outcome. Mabel and her friends will take over a warm space in your heart, and they’ll stay there for a very long time!
Something interesting that I found when comparing this to similar real-life situations where one partner passes away after being in a long-term relationship, is that the remaining partner will often embark on a fulfilling, active life that’s sometimes quite different from the one they shared with the loved one that they lost.
Thank you to RaRaResources and Boldwood Books for this wonderful blog tour!
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/mabelbeaumontsocial
Author Bio:
Laura Pearson has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. She lives in Leicestershire with her husband, their two children and a much-cuddled cat.
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurapauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurapauthor/?hl=en
Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/laura-pearson
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