Extremely delighted to be the lastest stop on the Blog Tour for this wonderful book that has already gone on to my favourite books of 2018 list!! I loved it! So thank you to the author, publisher and Anne of Random Things Tours for letting me be part of this tour!
So here’s a little more about this stunning book that I hope can help persuade you to make it one of your next reads!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sometimes it takes a stranger to really know who you are When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn’t expect a reply. When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, nor does he. They’re both searching for something, they just don’t know it yet. Anders has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. Tina is trapped in a marriage she doesn’t remember choosing. Slowly their correspondence blossoms as they bare their souls to each other with stories of joy, anguish and discovery. But then Tina’s letters suddenly cease, and Anders is thrown into despair. Can their unexpected friendship survive
* Hardcover: 224 pages
* Publisher: Doubleday (17 May 2018)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0857525514
* ISBN-13: 978-0857525512
Purchase Links
Hive.co.uk – buy online and support a local bookstore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANNE YOUNGSON worked for many years in senior management in the car industry before embarking on a creative career as a writer. She has supported many charities in governance roles, including Chair of the Writers in Prison Network, which provided residencies in prisons for writers. She lives in Oxfordshire and is married with two children and three grandchildren to date. MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM is her debut novel, which is due to be published around the world.
MY REVIEW
I always like to be surprised by a book and this one definitely did that! I loved it!!! The premise is astonishingly simple – 2 strangers writing to each other with a 2,000 year old bog man at the centre of their bond – and the result is that we get to read their letters and see how 2 different people from 2 different worlds can feel so free to share their thoughts and fears through the power of words written on paper, or via emails and how touching and strong that bond becomes.
Tina is from Suffolk and has written a letter to a curator of a Danish museum as she looks back on her childhood and is trying to make sense of decisions she has made over the years. She doesn’t expect a reply, but Anders seems intrigued by this initial letter and replies. What then follows is a wonderful study of two characters who find life easier to explain to each other in letter form, sharing some deep and personal thoughts, and by opening up it allows them to see their own lives and decisions more clearer.
The letter writing style is so different with each character – Tina writes in a much softer style, from the heart whereas Anders letters are quite straight-laced and to the point and this offers a great insight into each character. With both characters they both realise that getting older makes you analyse more aspects of your life, what makes an event important and questioning your place in the world.
They open up to each other about their families, their childhoods, their lives now – happy and sad moments – and it seems to be a great help to each other to have this ‘stranger’ willing to listen and offer advice and a new perspective on things.
I loved this beautiful story and became so wrapped up in these characters lives! It was about 2 people finding something that they didn’t know they needed! It was beautifully crafted and once I had the book open I didn’t close it until I had read the last page.
Highly recommended and definitely one of my favourite books of 2018!
Books and Me! 