I didn’t realise until I finished this book was by Ruth Jones but should have worked out someone had to live in Cardiff to write so clearly about the place. This book is a beautiful read that ripped my heart into a thousand pieces. I loved the character of Linda who has a very unusual job she looks after and investigates deceased possessions to try and find their relatives and if they don’t have any goes to their funerals and gives their eulogies so they are not alone. When she is given the sad news that due to cost cutting it’s time to retire she is giving one last case on a remote Scottish island of Levi a man who had lived on the island for some years but nobody knows anything about him. As Linda starts to unravel his life she also changes hers in ways she could never have imagined. This is such a great read and I loved the fact Linda was an older woman who refused to be defined by her age, size or anything else and didn’t want to retire and sit at home all day and Levi’s story was so sad along side it that to bring them together was such a perfect read. High praise but I really did love this one.

Absolutely loved this book and all it brought. The emotion was real, the characters were great and it was such a rollercoaster along the way!!

The new novel from Ruth Jones is a brilliant reflection of human nature, a poignant reminder of our own fallibility, and full of wonderful dark and light humour around our very human condition.
The story evolves around Linda who has worked for the local council in Scotland for many years moving departments until for last few years she has done her best to find the relatives of the deceased and departed that may have no one. On her last case, she is taken to a remote Hebridean island to try to discover some clues for the heirs to the Welsh man Levi Norman who had kept himself to himself for the last few years.
Fabulous characters abound, both in the present time and the flash backs to tell the stories in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Evocative and atmospheric both in Wales and Scotland, the writing takes you there.
I love that death is so normalised, and the vulnerability and sensitivity around the central lives are beautifully depicted and described.
This book gives a lot to be thought about, it’s real, it’s hilarious but also moving and had me in tears at a couple of points.
Hugely loved and to be recommended.
Thank you NetGalley and Bantam books for the early read, I loved it!

I love the premise from the very outset- Linda's job is a fascinating one and her determination to send off each unclaimed person is beautiful. The characters in the book all have fantastic voices and the setting lends lots of potential for the slightly outlandish, maybe- a -little -eccentric people Linda meets on her last mission.
A great read that could translate fantastically to a short series!

Oh this is lovely. This is the story of Linda, who is about to retire from her job in the council’s unit for unclaimed heirs. She attends funerals and reads eulogies for people who have no one and she packs up their houses and possessions. Her job is full of compassion and consideration; respect for the dead.

As retirement approaches, Linda takes on her last job, that of packing up the home of Levi Norman, who lived alone on the remote little Hebridean island of Storrich.

Linda travels with her nemesis, Fergus, a local undertaker, and together they uncover Levi’s story.

And what a story it is.

This is a beautiful book, full of well-rounded characters, drawn with much care and often deep affection.

Levi’s story is heartbreaking but also heartwarming and Linda helps bring understanding and closure to it whilst building new relationships for herself.

Full of humour, empathy and emotional intelligence, I loved this book, it’s glorious and I can’t wait for it to be published so I can buy a copy or two for my friends.

I’m a bit sad that I can only award it 5 stars.

Absolutely loved this book and did not want this to end. This book was so moving and engaging. I loved all of the characters but especially Levi who has left a little place in my heart. Such a lovely character with so much love to give. I have loved all of Ruth's books but this by far is now my favourite!

Who doesn't love a novel by Ruth Jones? Having devoured all her previous books I was so pleased to be lucky enough to read this before the publication date. The main character in this book is Linda who works for her local council tracking down relatives of tenants who have passed away, before she takes early retirement she has one last case to resolve, will she manage it?

You know that it is a good book when you are disappointed to see the short amount of time left along the bottom of your Kindle screen!
As always, Ruth Jones has not disappointed. A beautiful, funny, sad, romantic and everything read with likeable characters that you are always rooting for and of course an obligatory villain.
Linda, a 50 something grandmother, works in her local council office, dealing with the properties of the deceased who have no known next of kin. Through sleuthing through their personal effects she helps to find closure for them. When she has to find family for Levi, the whole story opens up ...

Absolutely fabulous book with utterly delightful characters to emphasise with. Certainly warm hearted with plenty of humour but also a lot of sadness. Told from a number of voices, some over several years and mainly set in Scotland. It features a myriad of family interactions, relationships and friendships together with community closeness. I just loved it and think it's probably Ruth's best novel.

Free courtesy of Netgalley

I requested this book as I had read Ruth's books before and enjoyed them very much. I was a bit apprehensive though when I started the book as I couldn't seem to settle into it, and was hoping that it would get better. After a few chapters the book seems to get into a better flow and the story took over and the rest of the book was very enjoyable.

Linda work for the council as part of the unclaimed heir's department, she is called in when a person dies with no family around and tries to find someone who cares enough to claim their personal belongings. She goes above and beyond for her clients, and also gives eulogies at their funeral, which is not a requirement of her job. Approaching retirement, she has one last job, an old man named Levi who lives on a remote island in Scotland. Whilst looking into Levi's life, can she find the way forward with her own.

Moving back and forth between Linda and Levi's lives, this touching story is about love and regret.

I would recommend this book but if like me and you struggle at the beginning, keep going to discover the beautiful story in the pages of this book

I would give this 6 stars of I could! I am such a fan of Ruth Jones' writing, I didn't want this to end. The story has so many layers and different characters that are just wonderful to get to know. The things we do for love.

Wow!! The premise of this book seemed a little odd, a middle aged woman who worked for the council. How wrong was I? What Ruth Jones is so good at, is taking normal lives and making them special. And real. And she makes you want to cheer for them as you can see bits of yourself or your loved ones, in her words.
Linda is taking early retirement and is sad that her son and grandson are moving away. She has one last project to find out about a man who has died on a remote Scottish island. She meets some characters along the way and the story is also set in flashback to the man and his own backstory. We follow Levi through a series of life changing moments and the consequences of those.
I have read all of Ruth’s novels and have loved them all. This is the best in my opinion as she deals with the subjects so carefully and with such thought and candour.
I highly recommend this book, it’s one to devour in one sitting and tell your friends about. Another triumph from the brilliant Ruth Jones.

Full of great love with a beating heart.

Oh my gosh such a good book and so well written.

Lots of great character insights and a great read all round.

Heartily recommend!

Such a heart-warming, life-affirming , beautifully written book with a cast of characters you fall in love with. I love the warmth Ruth Jones creates through her writing but I think this book is her best to date.
Linda has one last case to work on before retiring from her job in the unclaimed heirs department of her local council. Along with Fergus, a local undertaker, she travels to a remote Scottish island to try and look for clues to help her track down any family members of a recently deceased Welshman, Levi Norman . With the help of the local community Linda starts to learn more about Levi and eventually pieces together the mystery of why he ended up on a remote Scottish island estranged from his family. The impact of the case on Linda's own life is significant and transformative in the most powerful of ways.
Tender, warm, tragic and funny in equal measure - this highly recommended book is certain to stay with you long after it is finished.
I am grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC of this wonderful book.

Linda has the unenviable job of investigating the lives of people who have died isolated with no trace of living relatives.

With her retirement just around the corner, she is tasked with one final case , that of Levi Jones who lived on a remote Scottish Island ,

Linda travels with Fergus the undertaker assigned to the case, where they both immerse themselves in the local tight knit community.

The book has a dual timeline, the present and the past. Levi as a young man, in love and with a small child does not correspond to his fate later in life.

Secrets, lies and guilt all have left a lasting legacy of damage to Levi,. Mistakes are part of life, but how we deal with them can change the course of our lives and this is beautifully explored. Leaving things unsaid until it may be too late is another difficult issue and one we all need to be reminded of.

Brimming with wonderful relatable characters this novel had me filled with emotion, It also made me thankful for my family, friends and community.

Ruth Jones has such a great understanding of human nature and this is evident on every page of this book. I really didn’t want this book to end ,

I was so excited to read this as I’ve loved all of Ruth Jones other books. Oh my goodness, it certainly didn’t disappoint. What an amazing book! It was a real delight to read it and I enjoyed every page. It’s gorgeous and despite finishing it last week, it’s definitely stuck with me.
It’s more than worthy of 5 big fat stars and I’ll be recommending to everyone.

Loved this! I have read Ruth Jones other books so was super excited to get this one and the warmth of the characters and although an obvious conclusion it was a perfect afternoon read

This is a highly unusual but beautiful story which starts with Linda who is encouraged to take early retirement from the job she has been doing for the last thirty years -working for the local council trying to find missing heirs of the recently deceased. One of her last cases take her to a quiet Scottish isle to try to find the heir of Levi and in doing so we are treated to the story of his life and the decision he made that haunted him. There’s a lot of bittersweetness to this story as well as the humour you would expect from Ruth Jones, there’s a lot of depth to Levi’s story and Linda is a gorgeous lively character at a cross point in her life. I read this in under two days and much as I enjoyed reading about Linda for me Levi was an incredible character and the end of his life quietly devastating. This has its heart rending moments but overall is a wonderful uplifting read and beautifully written.

Linda Standish has worked for her local council in many roles, latterly in the unclaimed heirs unit. She is taking redundancy and her last case is to find the heir of Levi Jones, a Welshman who moved 5 years ago to a remote Scottish island, the Isle of Storrich. She has to travel by hearse with one of the undertakers, Fergus Murray, who she sued to go to school with.. She would rather go with anyone rather than Fergus, especially as they will have to stay in a pub for a few days while they sort through Levi’s house and papers before taking the body home to Boransay for cremation on the mainland.
Linda is also reluctant to go as far at the moment as her son, Struan, and grandson Xander are living with her. They are shortly due to move an hour away to be near Struan’s ex wife.
It was a lovely book and emotional to read Levi’s story and how he died, seemingly, with no heirs, and follow Linda as she discovered the truth about Levi and changed her life for the better as well.

This was absolutely beautiful. I was gripped from start to finish by every single character in this story. Linda, Brodie, Diana, Levi to name but a few- they all had such depth and felt like totally real people.
I hugely admired Linda- I hope I’m as fearless and fiery when I’m her age and the story behind Levi and Rachael was so heart breaking. I obviously don’t want to give anything away but please do read this- the only thing you’ll regret is finishing it too quickly!