Most of the threads are tied up nicely by the end, albeit with some difficult, sometimes tragic events along the way. Others flit in and out of the book and we get to know their situations and the unique pressures facing each of them at that time. Stephanie has a great knack of weaving all the complexities of 2020-22 together - the loneliness, deaths, long covid, relationship breakdowns, work precariousness, and even including the BLM and Trans rights issues. It also brought into sharp clarity the ease with which it is possible to put someone in danger, quite unintentionally, because of naivety on our part. Sometimes we see the person request the book again, we get to learn what happened in the next chapter, sometimes we don’t.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The idea about the book pharmacy and using books to fill the void whether we’re in a pandemic or just feeling a little lost in the world.One day a letter arrives from George and Rosemary enclosing a cheque and asking them to send them books they can read aloud to each other. There is a great deal of talking about, loss in all its forms and I was very upset at times during the book.

George and Rosemary are a delightful couple and their lifelong love warms your heart Loveday is a fabulous quirky character and I enjoy the introduction of Kelly and Madison who are very likeable too.

But it worked very well as a flight book - it’s an engaging story with people who got under my skin. It’s the state of mind and heart of the person reading it that will make the book grow into something greater than the words printed in it.

Great books recommended and the list at the end is great which means more to add to my tbr pile and some I already have. However, the story thread of Rosemary and George as well as Loveday, Kelly and Maddison is weaved through the book as the main story arc. Also in Jersey, although we had a lockdown and restrictions in 2020, and then small ones again later on, it was nothing like what the UK experienced. Although this book features some of the same characters as ‘Lost for Words’, including Loveday as a viewpoint character, it stands alone. There is love, family, loneliness, grief, loss, illness, joy, all facets of the human experience told with such heart.

I loved this book, I really enjoyed the interwoven stories ranging from books and pandemics to escaping previous lives and relationships. We follow their life-long love story from when they first meet and theirs is a really poignant part of the book.

As requests begin to pour in, what follows is a lovely and heartwarming story full of love, empathy, and the best of humanity. But, these lockdowns were so different to the way my own country, New Zealand, experienced lockdowns that they didn't even seem like lockdowns. Fell in love with the characters and their stories that happened in a time that I turned to books as well. It is not one I could recommend to everyone without explaining the triggers of which there are a lot.I was surprised at the number of books I’d already read, but even more delighted with the number of books I haven’t even heard of. At times there is humour although not as much as in the last book which is understandable given the serious nature of the times.