★★★
SYNOPSIS:
Please be aware I am writing to you to make sense of myself ...
When the curator of a Danish museum responds to a query about ancient exhibits, he doesn’t expect a reply.
When Tina Hopgood first wrote it, nor did she …
Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. He does not know that a query from a Mrs Tina Hopgood about a world-famous antiquity in his museum is about to alter the course of his life.
Oceans apart, an unexpected correspondence flourishes as they discover shared passions: for history and nature; for useless objects left behind by loved ones; for the ancient and modern world, what is lost in time, what is gained and what has stayed the same. Through intimate stories of joy, anguish, and discovery, each one bares their soul to the other. But when Tina's letters suddenly cease, Anders is thrown into despair. Can this unlikely friendship survive?
(Taken from Goodreads)
MY THOUGHTS:
This beautifully written epistolary novel explores the friendship of two strangers. Tina begins her letter to Professor Glob who in 1969 wrote a letter and dedicated a book to her and her school friends about the Tollund Man. Anders Larsen, the curator at Silkeborg Museum writes back to inform Tina that Professor Glob passed away some years ago and encourages her to come and visit the Tollund Man at the museum. And so their correspondence begins. As each letter is written, both Tina and Anders reveal more about their lives, their hopes, their struggles, opening up and confiding in one another. These correspondences become as important to them as their own children and have a huge impact on both of their lives.
This book is a charming tale of loneliness, trust and friendship which highlights the power of catharsis. I loved how the characterisation developed as the letters unfolded and how strong their feelings for one another grew with each page. The ambiguity and hope that you are left with on the final pages was, for me, the perfect ending.
Thank you to Alison Barrow and Penguin Random House UK for allowing me to read a copy of this book before publication
AUTHOR PROFILE:
British author Anne Youngson worked in the car industry for many years, but she always wanted to be a writer. Meet Me At The Museum, her debut novel, fulfills that life-long dream. Written as a series of letters between an English Farmer and a museum curator in Denmark, the novel sings with compassion and self-reflection. Youngson, mother of two and grandmother of three, lives in Oxfordshire, England.