“On her eightieth birthday, Helen spent the day moving things in the kitchen cupboard. Three years pass with nothing to fill their pockets. Then, early one morning, something happens.” Helen Cartwright is waiting to die. Her husband and son have passed, and she is ready to go. She has returned to her childhood town in an English village and she has been living a quiet life. This love story begins with her finding a mouse in her house and as the love grows with the mouse Sipsworth, so does Helen’s contacts. This is such a loving, moving story told with such skill and heart. This reviewer can’t wait to reread this tiny tale perhaps many times. Anyone who reads it will never look at a mouse or an octogenarian the same way.
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy, (List Price: $26.95, David R. Godine, Publisher, 9781567927948, May 2024)
Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia