Valentina Baker is having a bad day. She woke up and found out that her husband has left. He left a note that was short, but she knew immediately what it meant, even before she found his new girlfriend on Instagram with her #madeforeachother posts. But she wasn’t completely devastated until she got the call from London. An attorney was calling to tell her that her mother had died.
Val hadn’t spoken to her mother in a long time, not since she had left Val and her father when Val was only 12. She had spent years trying to understand how her mother could have left like that, but she could never wrap her head around it, or her heart. Val stayed in L.A. with her father and their housekeeper Bonnie, and grew up to become a librarian. She got married and moved to Seattle. And that’s where it all fell apart.
Her mother had moved back to London, and now Val is following in her footsteps. She left Val the building that she owned, and Val isn’t at all sure that it’s something she wants until she learns that there are a couple of apartments on the second and third floors but the bottom floor is a bookstore. Learning that, Val is in and soon finds herself flying over the ocean, to the part of London known as Primrose Hill.
In her mother’s apartment, Val finds a first edition of A Room of One’s Own by her mother’s bed. She had always wanted a first edition of it, so she immediately reaches out for it. As she picks it up, a letter falls out. It’s for her, from her mother. Along with a lovely connection to her mother, the letter is the start to a scavenger hunt, something that she had done for Val often when she’d been a kid. Now, her mother has left a trail for Val around her favorite part of the city, and she has to figure out her mother’s clues to find out where to go next.
She meets her lodger Liza and her mother’s best friend and partner in the bookstore Millie when she finally goes downstairs. Immediately she falls in love with the tall shelves of books and comfortable chairs throughout the store. And then she sees it, a book that she had loved when she first read it. She pulls it off the shelf and finds the next letter of her scavenger hunt. But there is more to the book than just that letter. There are annotations throughout that echo Val’s own feelings about the book, thoughtful comments that resonate with her. And there is a name, Daniel, and a phone number in the front of the book.
As Val walks the sidewalks her mother walked on, meet her mother’s friends, read her books, and solve the puzzles she left behind, Val finds herself healing. She finds that she’s learning to accept that her mother had reasons for what she chose to do. She finds that she may be open to finding love again, and even tries to track down the man who wrote those notes in her book.
But then she finds out that she has 6 months to come up with enough money to pay off the estate taxes on the building. Val can’t afford the payment on her own. But maybe, with the help of some new friends and the book community that her mother had grown, maybe Val can figure out a way to earn the money to stay in the lovely life her mother left her.
With Love from London is a beautifully crafted story of love lost and found, of second chances, and of the power of stories to heal the spirit. Told in alternating viewpoints of Val and her mother, this story unfolds in layers of understanding, of challenges, of creating dreams. Author Sarah Jio has brought these characters to life with a vivid grace, and each page sings with warmth and sweetness.
I was so moved by this book. There are so many layers of love that it is just simply restorative. If you feel like you’re losing your faith in humanity or need healing from a bad relationship, you can turn to With Love from London and find so many moments that will repair your soul. As you get deeper into the story, the warmth blooms like spices being warmed for a comfort dish. This is the book version of comfort food, and I loved every page of it. It’s the perfect read to give to a friend going through a hard time or just to curl up with yourself to restore your soul. Highly recommended!
Egalleys for With Love from London were provided by Ballentine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
