Love Lives Here

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey is a simply beautiful contemporary novel about love and friendship. It made me smile and it made me cry.

The leading lady is seventy eight. She has had her family but now she is alone. “Now there was just the echo of it [love] in this ramshackle old house.” There is a “crushing silence.” The reader can empathise with Missy who has known a busy house but now the walls are empty. Her life is shrinking. Her saviours come in the unlikely forms of two women, one boy and a dog.

It is beautiful to watch a life in the twilight years, bud, blossom and bloom again.

We all need friends. We all need to know our lives count.

Owning a dog for the first time, Missy’s reaction to clearing up after her dog makes the reader smile! Owning a dog expands her horizons as dog walkers are a friendly bunch. There is a beautiful bond with Missy and her dog which becomes stronger over time. Tissues will definitely be needed.

With love comes pain and hurt. A guilty secret threatens to sink a life. We can ‘feel’ the pain radiate through the pages as it travels down the years. The burden grows heavier not lighter with time.

The loss of a great love is tangible. The love and care of a community is beautiful to witness.

Saving Missy was a beautiful book. It is a book that swelled my heart with love. It is book that made me cry. It is a book where love lives.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON