The Keeper of Stories: The most charming and uplifting novel you will read this year!

Product Information

Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. I chose The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page as I was initially attracted to the cover, I read the blurb, and it sounded like a great book. The fact that I actually read this at the beginning of December and I’m still thinking how very happy this book made me feel shows the powerful impact storytelling can have on a reader’s mood. I’m sure it’s got a lot to do with the world we’re in; people had come out of Covid and there was a lot of bad news in the media.

In doing so, they show readers that anything can be accomplished if one has enough determination and courage. I hope to introduce new features during 2022 and join the Bookstagram community on Instagram properly, so come and follow me there too! The book revolves around Janice, a wonderful lady who works as a cleaner and collects stories from everyone/everywhere. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author, Libby Page.Janice soon realizes that she is NOT JUST THE CLEANER and I thoroughly enjoyed going on that journey with her. It's buried so deeply inside her and has a wall built around it that she cannot get it out and Janice needs too. As a dog lover (obviously), I absolutely adored the relationship Janice has with Mrs YeahYeahYeah’s very sweary Fox Terrier, Decius. Amongst Janice’s clients are a well known opera singer, an upper class, rather mischievous widow, a mother and son lost in grief and Mrs YeahYeahYeah and Mr NoNoNotNow with their swearing (it does make sense I promise!

I will say, Marnie isn’t sweary but is just as expressive as you would imagine a very shouty Terrier to be! It also portrays the blessings of friendship, and the influence parents have over their children, both good and bad, and the love of a good dog (with a foul mouth). Janice is such a wonderful character that is impossible not to root for her from the beginning and seeing her blossom and free herself from her husband and the past that held her back for so long was truly a joy. Through several charactCould she be the one who finally convinces Janice, the keeper of stories, that she has a story of her one, and one that is worth sharing with the right people. An absolutely engrossing book based on the stories that Janice (just a cleaner as she thinks) collects from her clients. Not because she's unimportant but because that's the way she wants to be ,she wants to fade into the shadows and not bring attention to herself. Janice is so lovely but has a devastating past that controls her, along with her waste of space husband. It is worth persevering past the initial pages, and getting to know the fairly large cast of ancillary characters, to uncover this important message in Sally Page's novel.

Life-affirming, hopeful fiction that can definitely fit into the ‘Uplit’ genre, this wonderful novel will definitely be on my list of ‘Best Books of 2022’. Her life is centred around her clients - some she likes very much but others she decidedly does not.She takes on one more - almost against her wishes but this client turns out to be a person to aids and abets a crucial and pivotal turning point in her life. It’s rare for me to say I didn’t want a book to end, but this is one of those occasions and could have quite happily read on. Through several characters but especially Mrs B, Janice changes and she finds her in a lioness and how.