What a beautifully written and heartwarming story about love, aging, friendships, self-discovery, loss, grief, loneliness, regrets and second chances. Most of all, it relates to having the courage to make a change and becoming the person you were always meant to be despite expectations of society. I absolutely loved this book so much!! The characters were so real and relatable and I was so emotionally invested. I could just picture myself spending time with this amazing group of women. I was hooked from the very beginning and could not stop reading! ALL the emotions!! 💙💙💙💙 What she doesn't know is that her list isn't just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again... I love every word of this heartwarming novel with the odd tear and some profound moments. I feel so sad the book is over as it’s one I don’t want to end and so I slow down to savour the last few wonderful moments. Quite simply, I love Mabel. A fabulous cast of characters all rally round Mabel as she starts a quest. After finding a list made by her late husband, Mabel starts a search for Dot, her best friend. Supported by her new group of friends, we see how their lives become intertwined, as much as they are helping Mabel, caring for her and allowing her to do more; they have also become projects that she feels she wants to help out. Written in elegant prose with superb characterizations and a realistic and relatable take on relationships – family, marriage, love and friendship -I found this to be a lovely story that will touch a chord in your heart.

Such a treat!... Just beautiful... Charming, warm and moving... A beautifully written story about love and longing, and a poignant reminder that it's never too late to follow your heart.' Holly Miller, author Thirty Days of Darkness” by Jenny Lund Madsen – Book Review @OrendaBooks @JennyLundMadsen #ThirtyDaysOfDarkness #BookReview @edelweiss_squad @meganeturney November 26, 2023Such a poignant story. Brought a lump to my throat… Will really appeal to fans of Joanna Cannon.’ Karen Angelico Apart from the list Arthur has also paid for Mable to have a carer 2-hours every day. While Mable does not feel she needs a carer she finds Julie comforting and soon become friends. She confides in Julie that her husband has left her a list directing her to find her long lost friend and Julie is immediately on board to help in the search. It’s gorgeously written and the reader easily becomes absorbed in the story and invested in the characters and the outcome. Mabel and her friends will take over a warm space in your heart, and they’ll stay there for a very long time! Love the character of Mabel, she undergoes such development and growth throughout the story. She’s lived a different life than what she wanted, not a particularly bad one with her husband, but she suffered losses of many kinds. Her brothers death changed things, her best friend departed without explanation and Mabel made the safe/sensible choice. Mabel is not your most pleasant person and Arthur is such a kind soul. They have been together for 62 years and when Arthur suddenly dies, Mabel is left alone. She isn’t what you call a lover of life – not like Arthur. In fact, I wondered why they married at all. Going through Arthur’s lists (he is a list maker), Mabel discovers a notation ‘Find D’. This discovery marks the beginning of a new life for Mabel outside her comfort zone. A mystery to solve, making unlikely friends and doing things she has never done before.

I am not sure if the complete personality change in Mabel after Arthur's death was intentional in the "I am out of prison now, so I no longer have to pretend" or if it was just a plot device to show character growth, If it was a plot device, it failed for me, because the change was so dramatic. With the home health aide's help, Mabel develops three close friendships and reaches out on her own to a young adolescent. These three women come to support her in her quest to find her best friend, Dot, who disappeared right before her wedding to Arthur. The young adolescent allows Mabel to be giver.At the age of eighty-six, Mabel Beaumont loses Arthur, her husband of over sixty years. Mabel is a quiet and reserved individual and her husband was the one who was relatively more outgoing and expressive and also fond of making lists. As Mabel grapples with her loss, she finds her husband’s unfinished list with an item “Find D” on it. Mabel believes Arthur meant to find Dot, once Mabel’s best friend and her deceased older brother’s love interest. After Bill’s sudden demise and Mabel’s engagement to Arthur over sixty years ago, Dot disappeared from their lives. Mabel embarks on a quest to find Dot and finds a kindly and supportive group of people who are intent to help her – Julie, the new caregiver Arthur had arranged for her; Kristy a kindly neighbor and new mother in her thirties; Patty, a dance instructor in her seventies and Erin, a sixteen-year-old girl who Mabel meets in her local grocery store. For someone who has mostly kept to herself all her adult life, Mabel finds herself increasingly involved in the lives of her new friends, adding more items to her (Arthur’s which she expands upon) list and reflecting on people and events from her past – the people she loved and lost, her regrets and secrets about herself she has never been able to share with anyone. Mabel's quest for Dot and her plans to help her friends, (though efforts don’t always produce the desired results), each of whom is struggling with personal problems, gives Mabel a sense of purpose, in turn inspiring her to approach her own life from a fresh perspective. Wow. Seriously. Just beautiful. So many wonderful elements... Such a unique angle... So many memorable characters... Beautiful and utterly affecting.' Louise Beech, author It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot. But then Mabel finds that Arthur left her one, unfinished list: “Find D”. It’s cryptic, to say the least, and Mabel’s really not in any frame of mind for game-playing. But once she’s taken some time to think about it and to realize that her life didn’t stop when Arthur’s did, she gives the ‘list’ some thought. Could Arthur possibly have known he was dying? And did he mean that she should go and find her long-lost best friend Dot? She hasn’t seen her since she suddenly disappeared just before Mabel and Arthur got married. It’s been a very long time!

It isn’t possible, to erase the lives we’ve lived. We only have today, and whatever future we’re granted.” Absolutely heart warmingly brilliant! I devoured this in one glorious afternoon/evening where I was totally absorbed and alongside Mabel, Erin, Julie and co. Surprisingly, Arthur has prepared for his passing by hiring someone to come in to their home for two hours each day. This carer is named Julie, and despite Mabel's initial misgivings, Julie becomes a true friend, helper, and confidant. Through Julie, and her own newfound courage, Mabel meets other friends. A teenager who works at the local market. A seventy year old dance instructor, and a young mother with a tiny daughter. Suddenly Mabel doesn't feel so alone and she is experiencing camaraderie for the first time in decades. She has a new lease on life at the tender age of eighty-six. Her new friends set about to help Mabel find her old friend Dot.

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Mabel and Arthur Beaumont live in a small Surrey town and have been married for sixty-two years. They are the best of friends. When she wakes one morning to find Arthur has passed away in the night, she feels adrift. They never had children and now she is completely alone… When Arthur was alive he structured their days around lists he would make. Mabel finds his last, unfinished list which says only “Find D”. Her mind immediately goes to Dot, her best friend, whom she hasn’t seen since before her marriage to Arthur. Did he want her to find Dot again?