A short, pleasing novella set in the austere 1980s. I am not sure the author lived through this period but the story will appeal to readers.

Jenny is a postal worker in a sorting office. One day, she comes across a postcard with an incomplete address destined for the Dead Letter Office and its message prompts her to go on a quest to find its intended recipient, somewhere on the Isle of Wight.

Jenny is partly prompted by feelings of guilt from the decision made in her youth not to go travelling with her then boyfriend. She is married now to Simon, who has grown distant following the death of one of their daughters. The remaining daughter, Charlotte, feels she has had the expectations for her sister forced onto her and wants to forge her own life. Jenny is struggling to find the right words to bridge the increasing gap between them all.

I didn't like Jenny's family much. Charlotte came across as sullen and ungrateful. Simon was weak and insipid and her mother domineering, so Jenny felt even more isolated within her own family.

At work, Jenny is also struggling due to the sexist boss who continually tests her on her job but she has an ally in Roger, who is soon to retire. One part of this narrative, with a storyline around an alleged unfair dismissal, remained unresolved.

The search for the elusive address seemed a metaphor for Jenny finding words left unspoken for too long. It became easier to say nothing and slip into an acceptance of what life had become rather than make the effort to address the situation.

I felt that Jenny deserved better than to wrap herself in guilt. By the end of the story, it felt as though she had allowed herself to move forward from those feelings, so it was a positive conclusion.

Loree Westron is not from the Isle of Wight, as I am, but the parts of the book describing the Island evoke it well. She also described the relationships between the central characters well and the setting in mid-1980s Thatcher governed Britain was realistic.

This was a good story and I would be happy to read more by this author.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Fairlight Books, in return for an honest appraisal.

Wonderful story telling, combined with a well written main character made this an enjoyable read. Setting it on the Isle of Wight made for some picturesque descriptive paragraphs and contained the story and it's small town feel.

This is a pleasant gentle read, but there’s not much else to say about it. Jenny works in a sorting office and one day she sees a postcard with an “insufficient address” from a desperate lover hoping to reconcile with his girlfriend. Her own life in disarray, Jenny feels compelled to try to find the recipient and sets off to track down the address. Everyone she meets on her quest is unfailingly kind and helpful, but a happy ending eludes her. I felt that the writing was a bit trite at times, falling into stereotypes (flat-capped pensioners sitting on their own in a pub), and with some plot inconsistencies – Jenny is afraid to ask the police for directions in case they discover she has committed the “crime” of taking an item of post, and for the same reason is scared to ask the local postman if he knows the address – after all, no one would know she has the postcard if she doesn’t show them! But I guess these are minor quibbles and if you like a quiet romantic read, then this little book will fit the bill.

When I received this e-ARC th epublicaion date was set as 1st March 2022. So I missed the August 2021 publication date. Just read it and was surprised at the details of the journey around the Isle of Wight. My birthplace and home for many years I found the names of the smaller villages and places rather nostalgic. But I didn't warm to the book. Maybe because I knew the locations too well. But the story didn't really do anything for me. With thanks to NetGalley, th epublishers and the author for the opportunty to read and review this title.

Loree Westron's 'Missing Words' is a sweet sojourn into the coastal English countryside; a journey of self-discovery and an exploration of the bonds of family, love and loss.⁠

With the labor strikes of the 1980s looming in the background, postal worker Jenny finds herself on an adventure to return the missing words of a man in love with a woman he might have lost while she unwittingly makes peace with the lost love, unspoken words and current questions of her life.

Jenny's life is at a bit of a standstill--she's got a daughter who doesn't seem to value her opinion or want it and a husband much of the same mind. She is also dealing with a tremendous loss all while working under sexist conditions in the Thatcher years.

Her efforts to bring two former lovers together is less about their ultimate reconnection or lack thereof and more about whether she herself will learn to live in the moment and find happiness for herself. Will she? You must read on to find out!

This was a quick weekend read full of sweet imagery and a fun mystery. Great for vacation read or a restful weekend at home.

Publication Date: Aug 5th, 2021

Thank you to @NetGalley & @fairlightbooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#MissingWordsNovella #NetGalley

#MissingWords #novella #FairlightModerns #fairlightbooks #isleofwight #isleofwightday #fiction #books #bookcover #shortreads #bookstagram #literaryfiction #indiereads #indiepublisher

<i><blockquote>Jenny has felt herself grow thinner, as if the molecules that make up her body were disassembling themselves and she was gradually vanishing into the ether. She fears that the most substantial part of her now is her breath and wonders how long it will be before she completely disappears.</blockquote></i>
<i>Huge thanks to NetGalley for my e-ARC of this book!</i>

First of all, how absolutely gorgeous is that cover? Yes, I did pick this book to read purely based on the cover, and yes, I am very happy with my choice! <i>Missing Words</i> is a short heartfelt story about a postal worker who takes it upon herself to deliver a postcard with an incomplete address. While the story follows her "quest", it's less of an adventure or a mystery and more of a tale about who 39-year old Jenny is and the dissatisfaction she feels in her life.

In many ways, the story, the character's unhappiness, and the theme of the book, reminded me of Elif Shafak's <i>The Forty Rules of Love</i> with the huge difference being that I found this one actually enjoyable and that one, well, annoyingly preachy. The writing style here is very calming and simple in a way that makes each paragraph feel like a warm embrace and there's just something about the atmosphere that's described that makes it extremely easy to imagine every single scene and to understand every mood Jenny has.

I'm giving it 4 stars but I do feel like it's closer to 3.5/3.75 if I'm being completely honest as I did feel slightly let down by the ending. For the first 90% everything is perfectly paced and perfectly set up and then I just felt like there was a huge rush to just finish and to close it off when the story could have easily taken on an extra 50 pages or so just to have it end in the same manner as the rest of the book. I was very unsatisfied with the last 10 pages or so, not because I disagreed with the story's resolution or anything but because the resolution just came too fast and did a disservice to the world it had built until then.

Overall, a cute quick read that's worth the time you spend on it. I'll be keeping my eye out for these publishers and more cute covers.

This was a sweet little book that was a quick read, with transient characters that made you feel their mark. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher~

Another Fairlight Modern Masterpiece. This is the 3rd book I have read in the series. I look forward to reading them all. So far I have found the Novellas to be light hearted, quirky with an artsy bent.
Jenny, a grieving mother, lost a daughter, and she must contend with the guilt ridden 'surviving' daughter left, her distant husband and working at the post office.
While working, she comes across a postcard missing a complete address with the theme of unrequited love.
Jenny bikes across Australia to find the recipent.
Its the diversion Jenny needs to refresh, renew and return to face and repair her relationships within her family.

Thank you NetGalley and Fairlight Books for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

jb
https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/

On the surface Westron's writing appears light, almost everyday but if you care to delve in the depths beneath you will find much to think about. It is rare that I read a book in one sitting, this one I did. It's easy flow drew me in and kept me there. I think this is Westron's debut novel, so kudos to her for knowing what to keep in and what to keep out.

Our world, our lives are often fraught with dangers, personal dangers to our physical health, economic dangers, dangers assailing our mental health and more.

In an atmosphere of economic danger which permeated Britain's 1980's we have Jenny who like we all do tries to exert some control over her life and the life of her loved ones in order to feel safer. The feeling of having control is there not because we really have any control over anything but it does make us feel safer in an ever shifting world. Like any other hero, Jenny has a quest and out she goes searching, overcoming hurdles. And whilst seeking 'out', she finds what's 'in' and then like any other hero's quest she has to decide what to do with what she finds. What to let go of, what to keep. Realising how ephemiral control real is and what we can really hold on to and what we cannot.

<i>An ARC gently given by publisher/author via Netgalley</i>

I enjoyed reading this novella - it had some lovely descriptive passages and I found the characters to have depth to them that felt genuine and well-written. I also thought the plot of the book - which follows a woman who's found a postcard at work and seeks to reunite it with the intended recipient, despite it being explicitly against her workplaces' rules - to be unique and interesting. Despite this, I felt that the pacing of the narrative could have been better executed and cover more character perspectives. The ending felt rushed which was disappointing because I had otherwise found it to be a good read.

Between these covers, amongst these pages, you will have the chance to travel to the Isle of Wight, to engage in diligent bike-riding, work through personal griefs, wonder about long loves, learn of the hidden mysteries of the UK post office and experience the kindness of strangers.

Here is a catalog of love stories started and stopped, ones that keep on ticking, and ones at which a reader is allowed only a glimpse. This is a lovely story, just right in all its dimensions.

A Sincere Thanks to Loree Westron, Fairlight Books and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.
#MissingWordsNovella #NetGalley

This short and clever book tells the story of a woman in Thatcher's Britain of the 1980s, a time of strikes, Campaigns for Nuclear Disarmament, and, well, postcards.

Our main character, Jenny, works in a post sorting centre, and is reminded regularly that she should be grateful to have a job at all, not only because of her husband's shaky career security and union strikes in her own organisation, but also because she is a woman, and unemployment for men has meant that the whole 'breadwinner' structure is being challenged.

Jenny, in trying to reunite a 'dead letter'- an undelivered postcard- with its intended recipient, goes on her own journey and ends up thinking deeply about her past relationships, her marriage and the fractious relationship she has with her own daughter.

It is a short, but poignant, delight of a book, and covers some interesting topics as Jenny goes through what it means to communicate to others.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Such a wonderful story, really enjoyed it and will be recommending to friends and family. I loved the themes touched on in the plot such as motherhood and the lengths we go to do the right thing

I was disappointed with this story. Jenny uses the excuse of trying to deliver an incompletely addressed post card to escape her day to day life and associated problems by cycling around the Isle of Wight. On her journey she meets a number of very kind people and eventually manages to sort out her thoughts and achieve some piece of mind. A rather dull read that felt longer than the 160 pages it is.

Don't be fooled by the size of this book, because it definitely works wonders in leaving a lasting effect on you. In this short touching novel, we follow the story of Jenny a post worker set in the late 1990s England. Jenny who lives with her husband and daughter is grappling with a few too many unsettling issues in her life which are intricately unraveled to the reader. Jenny's life is set during the prime years of Thatcher's rule in the UK, which gives the backdrop of this story a hue of political frustration.

Amidst the myriad unsolved issues that takes up a majority of Jenny's headspace, she encounters a postcard sent to an incomplete address. She pries into the content only to realise that it is a very intimate exchange from an entrenched lover and soon Jenny takes it upon herself to make sure that the love story sees its happy ending. This postcard almost acts as a time machine which then unravels many of Jenny's repressed feelings and thoughts, which sets off a whirlwind into her personal life.

On the outside, Loree Westron piques the reader's interest about the destination of the misplaced postcard, but in reality she uses this story as merely a writing tool used to uncover the countless unresolved conflicts of womanhood, youth, marriage and family. Overall a 4-star read for me. Highly recommend!

The writing was beautiful and the themes explored such as mortality, regret, grief, and love were treated with what seemed to me, great care. The ending felt a little abrupt but overall it was a great reading experience that I finished in one sitting!

Missing Words is a new instalment in the beautifully packaged and intriguing Fairlight Moderns series, a few of which I've enjoyed previously. It's a beguiling story of a woman searching, ostensibly for the recipient of a vaguely-addressed postcard, but on a deeper level for meaning in her own life.
Jenny is in her mid-forties and a worker in Portsmouth's mail sorting room in 1984. It's a time of industrial unrest during the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher's rule as England's Prime Minister. Jenny's husband Simon has lost his job at the dockyard and while she faces blatant sexism at work with the Royal Mail, she knows she's got to hold on to her job, in the face of threatened strikes. Meanwhile, her relationships with Simon and her almost-19-year-old daughter Charlotte have deteriorated since the accidental death of her younger daughter Sophie two years previously.
One day, a postcard bearing a Queensland, Australia beach scene turns up in Jenny's sorting pile at work. The address is deficient, but Jenny can't help but be intrigued by part of the printed message -
"Life is nothing without you in it."
In flagrant breach of Royal Mail rules and risking summary dismissal if she's caught, Jenny pushes the postcard up her sleeve, rather than consign it to the Dead Letter Office pile, and resolves to find the addressee, a woman called Deborah who lives somewhere on the nearby Isle of Wight. Finding a new purpose in her life as the only person who can save the relationship of Deborah and postcard writer Michael, Jenny sets off across the Solent by ferry over the next few weekends, undertaking a personal mission to deliver the card.
This novella is a touching exploration of the experience of early middle age, learning to assimilate a terrible personal loss, and finding renewed meaning in life. With the exception of her close work friend, Roger, who's about to retire and travel the world, Jenny is surrounded by some pretty unsupportive and unlikeable characters - her husband Simon spends all day on the sofa watching football and barely acknowledges her existence; her daughter Charlotte seems intent on throwing away the opportunity to go to university in favour of marrying her unimpressive boyfriend Ian, and her mother can't resist any opportunity to criticise Jenny - her appearance, her choices and her attitudes. While depressing, they're realistically drawn supporting characters and encourage the reader's sympathy with Jenny, who wishes for so much more in her life and reflects on her own life-defining decisions made at around Charlotte's age.
I enjoyed following Jenny's progress around the Isle of Wight via Google Earth, and found her interactions with various islanders charming and the setting evocative. The conclusion to Jenny's quest is more contemplative than revelatory, but seemed fitting to the tone and pace of the novella as a whole.
I'd recommend Missing Words to readers who enjoy contemporary fiction, particularly based around themes of women's experience, family dynamics and the challenges of finding a sense of self in middle age and beyond. It's a relatively quick read at 160 pages, but well worth seeking out.
My thanks to the author, Loree Westron, publisher Fairlight Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I loved following along the journey of Jenny a postal worker who is trying to find the person a post card was sent to with an uncompleted address. You will love this book and not want to put it down.

Set in the UK in 1984. Jenny spends her days sorting mail. Continually being watched for any mistake. She is the only woman in the mail sorting room and her friend Roger is soon to retire. Jenny is unhappy at work and with her family.
One day a postcard ends up on her sorting table, it does not have enough information to deliver it. The post card has the persons name and the name of a cottage on the Isle of Wight.
Jenny decides that she could deliver the postcard quicker than the lost letter department. Jenny takes the postcard and starts on her quest to find the person named on the postcard.
This was a short story about family relationships and working conditions for woman in the 1980’s.