Some books just speak to you, some books just make you look at the world with a more positive outlook. Matthew Crow has written an utterly charming story of finding hope in loss, of finding friendship in unlikely places, and of escaping the life we perhaps feel we are forced to live.

94-year old Mr Baxter, resident of the Melrose Gardens Retirement Home, has one last thing he needs to do in his life. The Home is populated by a suitably eccentric cast of characters, and Baxter finds connection with one of the part-time staff, Greg Cullock, a young man carrying a burden of grief with which Baxter can connect. Together they embark on a trip to France – evading the clutches of care home manager Suzanne – to find closure for Baxter, as he prepares to make an emotional journey to say goodbye at a war memorial to his lost love Thomas, missing in action from the war.

Yes, this is a well-trodden path for books (and films): cross-generational friendship, a journey to find peace, lost love. But Crow writes with such a vitality that, through the tears, you can’t help but laugh and take sheer joy in the life-affirming tale as it unfolds. That is not to say that there is not sadness – there is, in bucket-loads. There is such injustice in what happens to Thomas – revealed to us as readers but not, tellingly, to Baxter – and Greg’s burden in having to cope with the suicide of his younger brother is hard to read. However, as the characters find their own peace and some sort of resolution in the quiet of the war memorials of France, you can’t help but feel the life-force that the novel emits: ‘Live your life, live it bravely and beautifully. That is the greatest tribute you can pay to all those who could not.’

It’s the kind of book that you need when life is a bit grey and getting you down. It will make you cry and laugh, and hopefully leave you with a smile on your face. I definitely recommend it.

(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.) ( )