It is an evening from a storybook. The peacock is strutting around nearby. It’s waggling its tail feathers in an effort to attract one of the three peahens that are pecking on the lawn, but none of them so much as glances up. The sun, though it is nowhere near setting, has turned golden and sends threads of light through the trees and dancing, dappled, across the top of the pond.
We choose to sit on the grass, despite the benches dotted around this part of the park. I don’t think I could sit right beside Patch without making a fool of myself; at least here on the lawn I can pick at daisies, keep my nervous fingers occupied.
“Cheers,” says Patch, and leans in toward me. He touches the edge of his glass—so gently—against mine and the antique glass rings round the flat lawn like a bell. “To being here,” he says, and drinks.
The wine is cold, crisp. Tiny beads of condensation smudge under my fingers as I hold the glass; they sparkle in the reflection of the evening sun.
“There are worse lives, I guess,” I say. Immediately, I remember all the other stuff, all the reasons I’m sitting here on the grass—even if this moment is idyllic.
While the story depended on their British lineage and ancestry, it also highlighted unique characters and interesting relationships.
Official synopsis:
Four years after her husband Richard’s death, Cate Morris is let go from her teaching job and unable to pay rent on the London flat she shares with her son, Leo. With nowhere else to turn, they pack up and venture to Richard’s ancestral Victorian museum in the small town of Crouch-on-Sea.
Despite growing pains and a grouchy caretaker, Cate begins to fall in love with the quirky taxidermy exhibits and sprawling grounds, and she makes it her mission to revive them. But threats from both inside and outside the museum derail her plans and send her spiraling into self-doubt.
As Cate becomes more invested in Hatters, she must finally confront the reality of Richard’s death—and the role she played in it—in order to reimagine her future.
This was a story that had some interesting plot points, but was mostly held together by the characters and their relationships. Cate and Leo are used to just relying on each other and their close community, but when they move away from London to Crouch-on-Sea, they need to make some changes in their lives and open their hearts to the new people they are surrounded by.
While these new relationships evolved, Cate also learned more about her deceased husband and his legacy. He had not spoken about his past with Hatters and its inhabitants. As Cate got to know the people she and Leo were now sharing their life with at Hatters, she was also learning how some of the same people were part of her husband’s past.
Overall, this was a touching book about dealing with the unexpected twists life can throw at everyone. I’d give this book 4 out of 5 stars and am glad I got to know Cate and Leo and their new life at the Hatters Museum.
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Becki Bayley enjoys listening to Handel’s flute sonatas and drinking grape-flavored water while she reads. Find out more of what she’s been up to at SweetlyBSquared.com.
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The Museum of Forgotten Memories, by Anstey Harris
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