Saving Missy

By: Beth Morrey

Narrated by: Harriet Walter

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

‘A touching, deftly written debut that celebrates community and kindness’ Sunday Times

Missy Carmichael’s life has become small.

Grieving for a family she has lost or lost touch with, she’s haunted by the echoes of her footsteps in her empty home; the sound of the radio in the dark; the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock.

Spiky and defensive, Missy knows that her loneliness is all her own fault. She deserves no more than this; not after what she’s done. But a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new.

Another life beckons for Missy, if only she can be brave enough to grasp the opportunity. But seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn’t it?

’Bittersweet, tender, thoughtful and uplifting … I loved it’ Nina Stibbe

©2020 Beth Morrey (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"A beautiful story about love, loss, guilt and the power of friendship." (Jill Mansell, author of Maybe This Time)

"The most beautiful and moving book I’ve read in a long time." (Emma Flint, author of Little Deaths)

A wonderful hearfelt story

This achingly beautiful story of an old lady’s loneliness, and her deliverance from it, moved me beyond words. It took me to places I’ve never been to before. It made my heart sing and my spirit soar. And it renewed my joy in the pleasure and power of the written word. For a debut novel, it really is a triumph.

It’s impossible not to warm to 80 year-old Missy Carmichael. Missy has spent her life marching to the beat of everyone else’s drum, sacrificing a brilliant career to manage a home and raise a family. Now she is alone: friendless, estranged from her daughter, and with her precious son and grandson settled 12,000 miles away in Australia.

Proud and stubborn, Missy rattles around her big, empty house, nursing her solitude and regrets, and thinking back over her decades-long marriage to husband Leo. Her world is small and gloomy; her future joyless.

Enter stage left: Angie, Sylvie, 4 year-old Otis and Bobbie the dog.

What follows, as Missy is drawn into the warmth of their friendship, is one of the most touching stories I’ve ever read. I challenge anyone not to be moved by Missy’s transformation — at first hesitant, then wholeheartedly embraced — as she rediscovers her true self, forgives her mistakes and celebrates who she is beyond a wife, mother and grandmother.

It’s at once poignant, yet uplifting; unutterably sad, yet suffused with delightful bursts of bold humour. And there are moments so tender — notably the cleverly concealed twist in the closing chapter — as to take your breath away.

I read the book from start to finish with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart. I dwell on it still and will do so for a very long time to come. All I can say is, read it and see for yourself.

Harriet Walter was excellent with the delivery of the story