The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett – Book Review

Author: Annie Lyons

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: William Morrow

Publication Date: September 8, 2020

Book Description: It’s never too late to start living.

Infused with the emotional power of Me Before You and the irresistible charm of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Be Frank with Me, a moving and joyous novel about an elderly woman ready to embrace death and the little girl who reminds her what it means to live.

Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world—all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At eighty-five, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion. 

Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of color and sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order. Instead, she finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with the irrepressible Rose and their affable neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley—afternoon tea, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, birthday celebrations, pizza parties. 

While the trio of unlikely BFFs grow closer and anxiously await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is reminded of her own childhood—of losing her father during World War II and the devastating impact it had on her entire family. In reflecting on her past, Eudora realizes she must come to terms with what lies ahead. 

FBut now that her joy for life has been rekindled, how can she possibly say goodbye?

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars

Review: Meet Eudora Honeysett, an 85 year old woman, very much set in her ways and has chosen to die with dignity. This sets us up with one of the most delightful novels I have read in awhile. If I could compare this to one author, it is Fredrik Backman (this felt like a cross between A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You).

Eudora was born right before WWII in London with loving parents and a younger sister. She really had the model childhood, but you understand that she is battling with many personal demons. She has never been married, no children, she is really all by herself. She has chosen the path to end her life on her terms.

Rose, the most precocious 10 year old you will meet moves to the neighborhood and latches on to Eudora, and insinuates herself in Eudora’s life. If you read any of Backman’s earlier works, you will know where this story is headed, and you won’t love it any less.

There are many adventures between Rose and Eudora and you will absolutely fall in love with both of them. The author does a wonderful job at slowly revealing Eudora’s past mixed with the present and this new presence in her life.

This was a thoroughly charming read, and I found myself smiling for most of this book. Eudora and Rose will pull at your heartstrings, and these are characters that I will not soon forget.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.