The Key to My Heart

A Novel

By: Lia Louis

Narrated by: Victoria Fox

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Romance

A heartwarming novel about hope after loss as a young widow receives mysterious messages of love from the “must-buy author” (Jodi Picoult) of Eight Perfect Hours.

Sparkly and charming Natalie Fincher has it all—a handsome new husband, a fixer-upper cottage of her dreams, and the opportunity to tour with the musical she’s spent years writing. But when her husband suddenly dies, all her hopes and dreams instantly disappear.

Two and a half years later, Natalie is still lost. She works, sleeps (well, as much as the sexually frustrated village foxes will allow), and sees friends just often enough to allay their worries, but her life is empty. And she can only bring herself to play music at a London train station’s public piano where she can be anonymous. She’s lost motivation, faith in love, in happiness...in everything.

But when someone begins to mysteriously leave the sheet music for her husband’s favorite songs at the station’s piano, Natalie begins to feel a sense of hope and excitement for the first time. As she investigates just who could be doing this, Natalie finds herself on an unexpected journey toward newfound love for herself, for life, and maybe, for a special someone.

©2022 Lia Louis (P)2022 Orion

Critic reviews

"Narrator Victoria Fox’s heartfelt delivery and beautiful voice complement this story about finding hope and an identity after tragedy. Natalie's husband died more than two years ago, and she wanders around her creaky cottage struggling through each day. She used to perform for large audiences and have a full life. Now, she only plays for strangers on a public piano at a London train station. When someone starts to leave sheet music for songs with a deep connection to Natalie, she feels excited once more. In her quest to solve the mystery, she develops new friendships and reconnects with loved ones. Fox’s Irish and British accents are fantastic, and she employs fake crying hilariously. Forced, bright tones are used to perfection."—AudioFile Magazine

Sweet, smart, touching!

Lia Louis is so very gifted! This is my 3rd book of hers, & I loved each one more than the last. The writing is witty and poignant. The plot is fun and thoughtful. I loved it!!

Great story

This is the third book I’ve read by Lia Louis and I truly love the way she writes

Loved it!!

Such a well formed story line!! Wonderfully written and well narrated!! So enjoyed listening!! Thanks:)

It was so cute!

I was very happily surprised with this! The perfect cozy read for December! And the cover for this book is absolutely adorable as well

Story of grief

Overall nice read. A bit sad but there are interesting characters and unique depictions of coping with loss.

LOVED!!!

I’ve read all 3 of Lia’s books and they just keep getting better! Really enjoyed the narration as well!

Somewhat Worth The Ridiculously Slow Burn

This book was slow to get going. It wasn’t til around Chapter 25 that I reached the point where I couldn’t stop listening every extra moment I had. It felt like the first 20+ chapter were a formula that had to be setup in order to really get to the good parts. However, once Chapter 25 hit the storytelling improved, storylines and transitions flowed flawlessly. This is when I realized that this was why so many suggest this author. This was my first Lia Louis book and I am actually willing to read another hoping that this book was a one off of this weird tempo.

I wanted to like it

I've really liked Lia Louis's other books so I really wanted to like this one. Unfortunately, the story and the characters just didn't click with me. I get that the main character was grieving, but it got tiresome listening to her make bad choice after bad choice and push all her friends away. I could see the relationship resolution a mile away, and I just didn't care. The mystery of who was leaving the music never connected for me either, and the resolution of the mystery was just sort of meh.

Some people did love it, so I guess you might too. But if you start listening and have doubts about this book early on, trust them. It doesn't get better (or change much at all).