TUESDAY EXCERPTS: “THE RED ADDRESS BOOK”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, originally hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea and now hosted by I’d Rather Be at the Beach; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

Today’s feature is a new download I’m eager to read:  The Red Address Book, by Sofia Lundberg,follows 96-year-old Doris, who writes down the memories of her eventful life as she pages through her decades-old address book. But the most profound moment of her life is still to come…

 

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Intro:  The saltshaker.  The pillbox.  The bowl of lozenges.  The blood-pressure monitor in its oval plastic case.  The magnifying glass and its red bobbin-lace strap, taken from a Christmas curtain, tied in three fat knots.  The phone with the extra-large numbers.  The old red-leather address book, its bent corners revealing the yellowed paper within.  She arranges everything carefully, in the middle of the kitchen table.  They have to be lined up just so.  No creases on the neatly ironed baby-blue linen tablecloth.

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Teaser: The doctor’s eyes are fixed on the stack of papers in the dark-blue plastic document holder.

“Your stats look better.” He leafs through the first three sheets, reading chart notes and test results. (59%).

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Synopsis:  Meet Doris, a 96-year-old woman living alone in her Stockholm apartment. She has few visitors, but her weekly Skype calls with Jenny—her American grandniece, and her only relative—give her great joy and remind her of her own youth.

When Doris was a girl, she was given an address book by her father, and ever since she has carefully documented everyone she met and loved throughout the years. Looking through the little book now, Doris sees the many crossed-out names of people long gone and is struck by the urge to put pen to paper. In writing down the stories of her colorful past—working as a maid in Sweden, modelling in Paris during the 30s, fleeing to Manhattan at the dawn of the Second World War—can she help Jenny, haunted by a difficult childhood, unlock the secrets of their family and finally look to the future? And whatever became of Allan, the love of Doris’s life?

A charming novel that prompts reflection on the stories we all should carry to the next generation, and the surprises in life that can await even the oldest among us, The Red Address Book introduces Sofia Lundberg as a wise—and irresistible—storyteller.

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The aging woman living alone in Stockholm captured my interest.  I am eager to start reading.  What do you think?

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