Saving Missy

My second read of this book, read it last summer too. It made me feel quite sad this time, the main character is really lonely.

A gentle book taking us through the journey from loneliness to establishing a meaningful existence. Did't light up the world but a pleasant read nonetheless.

Millicent (aka Missy) is 79 and has lost her husband recently. She lives alone in a house that is far too big for her and she is struggling to make ends meet. Above all she is very, very lonely, the kind of loneliness that is all-consuming. It weighs her down and prevents her from taking any steps to combat it. But there is hope at the end of the tunnel in the form of Angela and Sylvie who come into her life through a chance encounter in the park and who are not going to let Missy go. And then there is Bob, a female dog who proves to be something of a life-saver.

I really enjoyed this book. It is an accomplished debut novel, inspired by the author’s perambulations around the local park while on maternity leave. It was populated by an eclectic mix of characters – dog walkers obviously come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – and this gave the author free rein to introduce a weird and wonderful bunch of characters. It is gentle and at times heart-wrenching. It is definitely not a good book to read on public transport, not unless you carry a box of tissues with you and are quite happy to thoroughly embarrass yourself in front of the other passengers - towards the end I cried a lot.

My main problem with the novel was the character development. I couldn’t quite get my head around the characters of Sylvie and Angela. Even once I had finished the book I didn’t really have a clear picture of either of them in my head. I don’t think this really affected my enjoyment of the story but good character development may have enhanced the experience even further. In terms of Missy, I had the opportunity to get to know her a lot better and was privy to her innermost thoughts as the book progressed so I did feel that she was a more complete character.

My only other criticism is the way in which Missy was taken under the wings of both Sylvie and Angela at the start of her journey. It seemed a little contrived and didn’t quite ring true. However from that point on, once Bob became a part of her life, the story became perfectly plausible.

As an aside, this is an interesting premise for a book and one which I am sure dog owners across the nation will endorse. It could almost be a self-help book with the title “Feeling lonely? Get a dog”. The benefits are two-fold - firstly the companionship to be gained from having a very loyal friend and secondly the advantages of becoming a member of the very select club of dog owners which opens up another whole world to those who are willing to embrace it. Despite not being a dog owner, I can relate to this because I swim a lot in the sea and my local beach is Dog-walker Central. The dog-walkers all know each other and have their own micro-community. In addition, as swimmers, we have found that we tend to strike up conversations with dog owners, purely because the dogs are very good at making the introductions. By the time the dog has bounded up to you to say hello (or waddled or tottered or ambled), it is almost impossible not to engage in a conversation with the owner. This aspect of the book is very authentic – dogs do facilitate encounters with new people and they do strongly encourage their owners to congregate with other dog owners in public. It is a short step to extend this to a friendship outside the direct arena of the dog playground.

Highly recommended as an easy-read novel that will probably make you cry!

Beth Morrey has written as her debut offering a book that can be read on multiple levels. At the beginning it appears to be a cozy book that is not challenging to read but light. It seems to be a summer vacation read that can be put down and picked back up easily. However it develops to be an examination of the importance of love, acceptance and the connectedness of seemingly minor daily events,
Missy Carmichael is a grouchy and lonely older lady who leads a solitary life. She like it this way. It feels safe to her. A change meeting in the park one day brings a snowballing change that opens her in unexpected ways and brings a wonderful community of people into her world.
This is a thoughtful and tender book that I would recommend to anyone.

I read this book at a sitting and will highly recommend it, especially to a friend whose husband has suffered from dementia for over 20 years. Having had a daughter at Newnham College for four years, I admired how the author captured the atmosphere among students and academic staff. Beth Morrey depicts the complexities of modern life and relationships in families, writing convincingly of the guilt of abortion, grief at the emigration of her son, depriving her of her grandson’s company, and the agony of being estranged from her daughter. It was uplifting to read of how kindness and company of dogwalkers and pairing up for a shopping day changes Missy. Characterisations, descriptions of places and feelings and the unpredictable turns of the plot are engaging and beautifully written with human warmth and humour and fill the reader with optimism. I award this novel five stars.

By Marjorie L of St Barbara’s Book Group

“Through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and in joy”

Missy, the main character, is clearly-drawn and readily-identifiable in our society: a lady whose spouse is either deceased or in a care home, whose children have grown up and moved to other parts of the country or even abroad, and who has lost many of her contemporaries to death. As an octogenarian, I know many such ladies in my community – some of whom walk dogs daily and chat to other owners.

Missy has sacrificed a career to the care of her family, and now she is left with only her memories – memories in which she often wishes that she had acted differently, adding insecurity and depression to her loneliness. The story follows her for a year during which she re-discovers herself.

Interleaving chapters of narrative with those of memories gradually builds rounded pictures of Missy’s family, friends and acquaintances. In doing so, more is revealed about Missy herself, and the reader is drawn into her thoughts, feelings and emotions. As a former academic, I have known many Leos and worked beside many Melanies and Octavias. They, like Angela and Sylvie, were thoroughly convincing characters.

A theme within the book is that assistance offered to a stranger in distress can develop into real friendship and unmask a widespread latent goodwill and kindness. It is a theme that rings true to life. The author has written a perceptive novel about a lady over a generation older than herself, with excellent descriptive writing and short phrases that capture a wealth of meaning, information and nuance. This novel tells a story of love and care, and is a lovely story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it five stars (out of five).

By Ian L of St Barbara’s Book Group

I adored this book from Beth Morrey and keenly recommend it to others! This debut novel deals with some key issues of loss, loneliness and community and left me with a warm glow ❤️❤️❤️

An enjoyable read but rather predictable. Friendships are not necessarily formed with people of the same age and experience and I found the mix of characters believable.

A great read in which we see the main character Missy Carmichael gradually transported into a world that the “old Missy” would have only dared thought was for others to enjoy.

Her character partakes in intergenerational partnerships, which helps her see the cracks in the relationships of her own family and realise that her daughter-in-law would need to be near her mum, when she loses the baby!

She meets characters from her own past and realises she was the one they envied not the other way round, like she had thought down the years, she had always been the one, that mattered.

Yes, she had her faults, but people forgive and forget and move to a better place there is always a way forward, which she finds with the emerging friendships and the chance encounters in the park.

This is the type of book you find yourself, becoming part of that life, great to read after work, and sorry when it ends; it really ought to have a follow on when Missy has the new chapter in her life.

Saving Missy was an easy read, Missy is a likeable character and I found myself rooting for her as she navigated new situations and dealt with feelings from her past. However I felt frustrated at times that the other characters were not explored in a bit more depth. Ultimately it was a heart-warming story that demonstrated the importance of community, friendship and the importance of branching out and trying new things no matter your age.

I spent most of this book incredibly bored, thinking I was going to give it two stars, but the ending rescued it for me a little. I should begin, of course, by noting that I’m not the target audience for this kind of book, but my problems with this novel go far deeper than its genre.

Part of what I found frustrating about this novel is that it’s all entirely simplistic and predictable. Missy is an old, bitter woman who has been dealt a few hard knocks and is now drowning in self-pity. She meets some nice people in the park, gets a dog, reconnects with her family, and starts to come out of her shell. Then the dark night of the soul happens and Missy thinks all is lost, except (surprise surprise) her friends come through for her and the day is solved. While there were a few interesting points in the book (such as a significant twist towards the end that was slightly gimmicky but also the most emotionally-charged point in the novel) the rest was all entirely predictable from the cover.

The main problem with the novel, however, is that it doesn’t feel as if it’s written by an 80-year-old woman. It feels like it’s written by a 30-year-old pretending to be an 80-year-old. Just before this I read In My House by Alex Hourston, which takes almost the exact same situation (a bitter older woman reconnecting with life after an unusual event) only Hourston is far more adept at character development. In Saving Missy, the characters’ thoughts and feelings are all fairly surface-level, with very little room for nuance. I was particularly unimpressed by the discussion surrounded the Brexit vote, where Missy votes the “wrong” way and is berated for her choice before quickly coming to repent. (It might be worth saying that I voted the opposite way to Missy, but I still find it frustrating how the novel feels like it needs to moralise to us by beating up its main character.)

I know many people have emotionally-connected with this novel far more than me, and it’s worth saying that there are some fun characters and a few unusual situations that make this novel memorable. It’s also nice to read something about an older woman, and focussed on friendship rather than romance. Still, I had to force myself to finish the novel, and I found myself constantly frustrated by the elements mentioned above, so I’d never personally recommend it.

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032333060

I loved Missy and I loved reading about the journey she went through in her struggles with loneliness. A chance encounter with a local dog-walker in the park leads to friendships and adventures that she would never have thought possible. Ultimately this is a redemptive book, but expect tears along the way!

Such a heartwarming delightful story that crosses between Missy’s past and the present day. There were moments when I was laughing out loud and others when I was in tear. A thoroughly enjoyable read that I didn’t want to end.

Saving Missy is essentially the tale of an old lady making new friends, but it is so much more than that. The story starts in 2016 and the time is marked out by celebrity deaths and the Brexit vote. It is told through subtle hints and brief allusions, gradually more and more being revealed of the present and past to build up a picture of Missy's life and how she got to where she is at the start of the book, which proves to be a great method of storytelling. Some of these hints and presumed euphemisms can only be appreciated fully on a second reading.

As well as the theme of friendship the novel also deals with the importance and complexity of family in a very realistic way, dealing with the difficulties and sacrifices involved, and the fact that neither friends nor family are glossily perfect. Whilst recognising this, it also celebrates the positive attributes of friendship and family relationships. It is also a story of secrets, of regretted actions people, and Missy in particular, are fearful to confess. It is a story, reflected in its recurrent imagery, both of knots loosening and becoming free and of a ship being adrift amongst the threats from the sea. It deals with issues of loss, loneliness and lack of purpose combatted with the therapeutic power of pets, friendships, family and community. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to see what Beth Morrey produces next.