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Year of Pleasures, The
  
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Year of Pleasures, The (Paperback)

by Elizabeth Berg (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Hutchinson; Australia and New Zealand e. edition (7 April 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 009179689X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0091796891
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,494,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis

When Bretta Nolan's husband dies, she honours a promise she made to him to move to a small town and start a new life. Without minimizing her great sorrow, she nevertheless attempts to find pleasure on a daily basis. The "Year of Pleasures" is about deliberately acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music and art. Above all, it is about the various kindnesses people can, and do, offer one another. 'Elizabeth Berg writes with humour and a big heartabout resilience, loneliness, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems.' - Andre Dubus II. This is the stunning new novel from the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Open House and Never Change". Praise for Elizabeth Berg: 'Berg oozes warmth, wisdom and generosity of spirit. Her writing is quite brilliant, as soft as a kiss, as sharp as a knife. An American Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen, whatever praise you heap on Elizabeth Berg, she probably deserves it.' - Anna Maxted. 'Berg knows her characters intimately - she gets under their skin and leaves the reader with an indelible impression of lives challenged and changed.' - "The Seattle Times". 'Heartwrenching-Hilarious-Berg sits somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman.' - "Chicago Sun-Times". 'Maybe Freud didn't know the answer to what women want, but Elizabeth Berg certainly does.' - "USA Today".

From the Publisher

‘What a lovely writer. Clever, compassionate and superbly skilled, she writes about her characters so poignantly and perceptively that few can match her.’ Elizabeth Buchan, bestselling author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle reminder of what's important in life, 4 Jun 2009
By E. Potten (Derbyshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Year of Pleasures (Paperback)
I have to say, I had my reservations about this book. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but when I picked it up at the library the style seemed to be aimed at more mature women (I'm 22), and I worried that I didn't have enough life experience to fully appreciate a book about a woman who has lost her husband of many years to cancer.

I needn't have worried. I became thoroughly absorbed in the story of Betta Nolan, a woman in her fifties, recently bereaved and trying to follow her husband's last wishes for the direction her life should go after his death. The reader first meets her driving through the American countryside. She and John had dreamed of packing up their lives and driving randomly until they came across a nice town where they could start a new life. Now Betta is taking up the challenge on her own, both as a distraction from her grief and to honour her promise to live her life to the full.

The story meanders through her unhappiness, her bravery, and her faltering steps as a single woman in a new place. She meets new people, catches up with old friends, and nurtures her lifelong dream to open a beautiful shop called 'What A Woman Wants', full of vintage treasures and comforting femininity. She reaches out to young people and old people alike, takes risks, and reaps the rewards. Slowly grief begins to give way to hope and the whispers of a happy future, with wonderful memories instead of painful regret.

I think this story has something for everyone - it is full of wisdom and humour, it has a mixed bunch of characters to appeal to different readers, and anyone who has ever lost anyone can relate to Betta's journey, whether they have been bereaved after thirty years or broken up with a boyfriend after a few months. Ultimately it is a novel about simple pleasures, counting blessings, taking chances and making the most of every precious day - and that's something we could all do with being reminded of every once in a while. I might just read more of Elizabeth Berg's work now...
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