This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Tilly has suffered a loss she believes she will never get over: the untimely death of the love of her life, her husband Joe. As she dives into her work as an editor, she relinquishes everything else that she loves, even reading for pleasure which had been her favorite pastime. When she receives a call from the owner of a local bookstore saying that he has a package for her, she is baffled by what this could be. What she discovers there is a gift that will change the course of her life, and remind her of the person she still is underneath her grief.

This is a beautiful story, replete with characters who will melt your heart, and with a message so clear and vital. Loss can be devastating, but it is how we cope that determines how the rest of our lives will play out. The bottom line is that we are not weak because we lean on others to get us through; on the other hand, it is often others who will enable us to climb out of the depths of despair. We may just need to find the right ones to do this with us, and that is what this book is about. Support for grief may come from people or experiences that we might never guess are even out there. We just have to open our hearts to possibility (and this may be hard, of course).

One of my favorite characters here is Harper, Tilly’s adventurous and outgoing sister. She adores Tilly and will truly do anything for her. She goes out of her way, if perhaps overreaching a bit in her determination to help Tilly over her sorrow. But she is loyal to her core, and we have to love her for that.

I listened to this book and loved the accents, but I imagine that reading it would also be a lovely experience. Either way, I do recommend this. It’s a lovely story that inspires and heals. (And of course, it encourages reading, which is ALWAYS a good thing!)