A candy and touching portrayal of friendship, heartbreak and therapeutic, The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis is a poignant romance with astute observations about life after loss.
It’s been two years since her husband, Russ, died, and 32-year-old Natalie Fincher continues to be grieving. She’s misplaced her ardour for the dreamy cottage she lives in, and she or he’s misplaced the prospect to be half of the musical she wrote. She finds consolation speaking to her good friend Shauna, a motherly determine who owns a espresso store at London’s St. Pancras railway station the place Natalie has been taking part in the general public piano. Although she is just not desirous about relationship, Natalie placates her finest associates, who’re determined to reignite her love life, by approaching good-looking, good-natured Tom throughout an evening out and asking him to fake they’re beginning a fling. Tom shortly turns into a good friend, and when somebody begins leaving Natalie sheet music within the piano bench, he makes an attempt to assist her discover her nameless music angel.
Louis (Eight Perfect Hours) portrays life transitions with tender credibility. She immerses readers in Natalie’s previous with well-placed reminiscences of her life with Russ, that are triggered within the current by fixed bittersweet reminders, corresponding to their cottage that she nonetheless lives in. Natalie is a likable protagonist, attempting to steadiness her grief and self-doubt with the expectations of her family and friends. Some of the repartee between Natalie and her finest associates, particularly about her intercourse life, can really feel overly sophomorish and superficial, particularly given the depth of Natalie’s first-person narration. But it additionally highlights her associates’ uncertainty and discomfort with addressing Natalie’s loss—and their very own eventual development.
The Key to My Heart is an attractive and shifting portrayal of the guts’s energy to heal after the loss of a cherished one.
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