The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page

 

Jo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.

When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.

I was kindly given this book as a gift for my birthday, introducing me to an author I haven't discovered before. The storyline revolves around our trio Jo, Malcolm and Ruth who form a intriguing and solid friendship each a little lost but together they support one another and help each other to face the issues they have been casting aside.

One of the biggest interests for me in this book is the running of Jo's uncles stationary shop which is where she meets her unlikely friends as well as a real mix of customers and she begins to collect souvenirs for her noticeboard capturing her moments spent here and capturing snippets of memories created.

This is a gentle paced book so it wasn't one that I flew through but each time I picked it back up to read another chapter here and there I was delighted to be reunited with the trio and I was eager to find out what Ruth was running away from.

I really enjoyed this story and the friendship I just wished the ending hadn't felt like it was cut short I would have liked to have seen a little more of where Jo ended up next is all I can say without giving too much away. However the heart of the storyline was the bond that was created between our trio and that was mastered beautifully and with the focus being on new beginnings I think this was the perfect time of year for me to read this book.

This is an author whose writing style is so easy to fall into step with so I will certainly be looking to read more by this author in future.