Getting over a failed love affair and an old friendship that has gone sour, Jo comes to London to look after her uncle’s stationery shop, and decide what to do next.

Gentle story of lonely people discovering the value of friendships & opening themselves to make friends, and become the person they need to be. ( )

When Jo Sorsby swaps the Northern Dales for North London to look after Uncle Wilbur’s stationery and hardware shop while he is in care she hopes to leave painful memories of her ex and trepidation about her friendship with Lucy behind. Determined to resurrect the dying art of letter writing, stock is replenished, tester fountain pens are ready to hand and the noticeboard fills up with customer’s trial jottings. Average Jo finally has the confidence to embrace new friendships.

The descriptions of Ruth (the runaway vicar), Malcom (the grey tax analyst) and Eric (the Viking from next door) are wonderful. I could picture gentle giant Eric in his orange flip flops, Ruth flapping her arms like an over-excited bird and Malcolm slowly emerging from his chrysalis.

This is the perfect book to brighten up a rainy day and devour in one self-indulgent sitting. It is warm and comforting, funny (sweet Jesus!) and moving, endearing and imaginative (talking foxes and gossiping ghosts!).

The writing is beautifully evocative conjuring up vivid images of the Yorkshire moors and Highgate Cemetery, the smells and textures of a bijou, old-fashioned shop and the glowing warmth of a flickering log fire as well as memories of letters from pen pals, playing post offices and buying pencil cases before the leaves begin to fall.

A lovely book about the importance of friendship, new beginnings and becoming the person you’re meant to be.

A place for everything and everything in its place. ( )

Jo is at a crossroads. She's recently broken-up from her partner, fallen out with her best friend and doesn't have a career any more. When her uncle falls ill, Jo has to relocate to London to look after his shop and slowly she learns what is important in life through friends and finding her true vocation.
After loving Sally Page's first book I looked forward to reading this and I was not disappointed. It's a very gentle adult book about people who are world-weary and battered but who find each other and enhance their own lives as well as the lives of others. The story is so lovely and life-affirming and the plot, whilst preposterous, is great. I loved the story within the story of the ghosts of Highgate Cemetery and the ideas about God. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in a day! ( )

Through the voices of not only her trio of main characters, but each of her subsidiary characters (especially Jo’s neighbouring shop owners, gentle-giant Eric the Viking/optician, with his walrus-like laugh, and Lando the tattoo artist … as well as all the historic characters ‘encountered’ in Highgate Cemetery), the author has provided her readers with this delightful story about friendship, love and new beginnings. I enjoyed how she controlled the narrative with her slow revelations about the back-histories of each of the characters, thus creating stories within stories and providing a credible psychological underpinning to her storytelling. Although this is in many ways an easy, undemanding read, I also found it a surprisingly moving and thought-provoking one.
A central message in the novel is that all friendships are precious and that, whatever your age, it’s never too late to make new ones. Although a few may last a lifetime, many are time-limited, with people coming into our lives at certain points in time but then, once a particular need has been met, either we, or they, move on, and we need to be able to ‘let them go’ without feeling either guilty or angry. However, what links all types of friendship, no matter how long or short, is the need for us to cherish and nurture them and to do all we can not to neglect them. I think most of us have someone we would describe as a best friend and so Ruth’s reflection that having a best friend can be a lifelong love, that “there is a fundamental truth, comfort and joy in having a best friend” captured the essence of these extra-special relationships. Another recurring message is that feeling weighed down by regrets is counter-productive and that we’d be better off taking heed of George Eliot’s advice that “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” … advice each of these characters has embraced by the time the story draws to an end.
Even as a young child I loved going into stationery shops (I still find them hard to resist!) and particularly recall the excitement of buying new supplies at the beginning of each school year, memories which made it very easy to immediately identify with Jo’s desire to expand and improve her Uncle Wilbur’s shop. Although not as often as I used to (ubiquitous email exchanges have become far too common!), I still use a fountain pen and carefully choose lovely stationery when I write special letters and cards to friends and family. So, what a delight it was to discover that when the author couldn’t find a fountain pen she wanted (traditional and weighty, but in a glorious colour) she created her own range, establishing ‘Plooms’, a company which offers a wonderful selection of pens, inks, traditional blotters and beautifully illustrated notecards … and now that I’ve had a look at what’s on offer how can I possibly be expected to resist giving in to temptation!
With thanks to the publisher and Readers First for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Sometimes a book comes along that has all the elements I enjoy in a book and The Book of Beginnings is one of those books. I enjoyed Sally Page's debut, The Keeper of Stories, but I have to say that I ADORED The Book of Beginnings.

The opportunity to run her uncle's stationery shop in London comes at just the right time for Jo Sorsby as she needs to get away from the memories of a past relationship. Hopefully life amongst the pens, paper, envelopes and bulldog clips will help her heart to mend. She meets new friends, vicar Ruth who is also running away, and notebook purchaser Malcolm, a man with a project but who doesn't know what direction to take. Then there's Eric, a fellow shop owner and gentle giant. Each of the characters brings so much to the story and to Jo's life.

One of the first things that struck me about this book is that it brought back my own magical memories of a childhood loving all things stationery. I used to love coming back from a shopping trip with new pens, rubbers, rolls of thick paper or chunky exercise books, just waiting to embark on a new project (or in my case probably random doodles and jottings). The author's own pleasure in stationery shines through on every page.

This is a story primarily of the healing power of friendship and how age is no barrier to that. Jo's new friends range in age and I loved the way that each character brought something new and helped to build the bonds between them. Another element that makes a book special to me is a love story and there is one here, along with bursts of humour that made me laugh out loud. As if this wasn't enough, Sally Page manages to pop in some interesting historical figures and some intriguing back stories for Ruth and Malcolm, and all this in 400 pages. This is a book crammed with delights and every page is an absolute joy to read. The Book of Beginnings is uplifting, thoughtful and enchanting and will be one of my favourites of this year. ( )