Sipsworth is a novel about a woman in her 80s who has recently returned to live in England after 60 years living abroad. Her husband and son are dead, and Helen lives a very quiet life of routine and habit, alone and disconnected. Then one day while walking home she finds a pet mouse and brings it and its cage into her home. From there we follow the growing relationship between Helen and her mouse, Sipsworth, as the bond between them grows and affects her whole outlook on her life.

Reading Sipsworth was a little bit like watching those videos on social media that visualise an ineffable love either between people and animals or between individual animals of the same or different species. You observe a growing bond that however apparently unlikely is clearly and unquestionably an example of love. It's sweet and heartwarming and sufficient unto itself.

Sipsworth is a short novel, and like those short videos it forces you to just stop a moment to observe, reflect and feel something touch your heart: the redemptive power of love.

It’s a simple message to extend into 240 pages. And yet I could have gone on reading, and on, and on. Helen’s days with Sipsworth are described in detail, in all their beautiful mundanity, as all the while Helen remembers and reflects on her past, revealing her life in snippets of memory. But what really carry the novel are the haunting reflections on love, loneliness, life and death. Older readers will no doubt identify with Helen’s reflections on aging, such as: “The only real proof of her advanced age are a chronic, persistent feeling of defeat, aching limbs, and the power of invisibility to anyone between the ages of ten and fifty.”

Mindful meditation in a book about a mouse. I loved it.

My thanks to @publisher, @ and @NetGalley_UK for providing an ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.

#Sipsworth #NetGalley #SimonVanBooy

A sweet, gentle slow-paced story about an old lady who feels her life has lost meaning, and a mouse she accidentally adopts. A little downbeat at the beginning, and so focussed on the small details of life that it took me a while to get into. 3.5 stars.

Incredibly sweet and tender a tale. Rather reminiscent of a Fredrik Backman, with the found family, renewed purpose tropes. Made my heart ache a little, kept me company on a bad day. .

After living abroad for several years, Helen Cartwright returns to the area of her childhood home with no plans beyond a quiet wait for death to arrive. After losing her husband and son, life has lost its meaning for her.

But as it turns out, life has other plans for Helen. So what if the plans come in the most unexpected form!

Sipsworth is a moving story about unexpected friendships and meaningful possibilities for life after grief. It will strike a chord with many readers. It gets 3.5 stars.

I loved following Helen's journey to discover life after grief, a very poignant and heart-warming read.

Well I did not expect this book to have this much of an effect on me that’s for certain. It was so heartwarming seeing someone be so sure they were ready for death change to someone so full of life. Definitely did not expect to cry as much as I did.