I had been waiting to read this book for a while. The cover jumped out at me in the supermarket, maybe that was the naughtiness of the swear word on the cover which when you think about it is quite rare to see. Not only did the cover grab my attention but I was interested in the blurb on the back and the fact the main character is 40 something years old and doesn’t quite know what to do with her life resonated with me and apparently a lot of other people as well because I think I am right in saying this book has been made into a tv show called Not Dead Yet.
Nell was a book editor turned cafe owner living in America until she moves back to the UK. The book starts with her first arriving back here and follows her ups and downs of trying to make sense of her life as a forty something female with no husband and no children.
Good Reads Synopsis
Nell Stevens’ life is a mess.
When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell’s happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she’s been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, sky-high rents force her to rent a room in a stranger’s house and in a world of perfect instagram lives, she feels like a f*ck up. Even worse, a forty-something f*ck-up.
But when she lands a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an eighty-something widow with challenges of her own, and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and unexpected joys.
Because Nell is determined. Next year things are going to be very different. It’s time to turn her life around.
There were so many things I loved about this book and very little I didn’t love. I would go so far as to say I didn’t want it to end. The characters were all so vibrant and interesting, I have a vivid picture of them all in my mind. This may have been helped by Sally Phillips absolutely brilliant narration. The book actually inspired me more than some self help books have done in the past, it made me feel like being 40 something is not too late to achieve things and find out what you want most out of life. It was witty and cheerful but also made me quite teary in some parts.
The only small negative I could find to add in to this review was the mention in the book of ‘The Fear’. I felt like it was an unnecessary addition to the storyline, Nell didn’t strike me as a depressed or anxious character at all. I thought it was as though the author added it in just for the sake of adding it in, there is such a mental health discussion being had at the moment which is excellent but just not relevant to Nell’s story in my opinion. I would have been cheering her on with or without The Fear.
I would highly recommend Confessions especially to my 40 something friends but anyone over the age of 30 could relate to this book. I mean I am a 40 something mum of three boys and I still felt like I had some aspects of my life in common with Nell. I really loved it, let me know if you loved it too.
NJ x
nicola jayne 