(a sorta, kinda review of The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett and the memories it stirred up)

It seems like at least once a year I stumble on a book out of my normal genre preferences that squeezes my heart just so.

(Last year it was The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin. I think often of Lenni and Margot and their lessons of love and friendship.)

This year I fell in love with a prickly octagarian in the pages of The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons. Eighty-five year-old Eudora Honeysett is chosen as a best friend by her new neighbor 10-year-old Rose. Rose blows a fresh wind across Eudora’s life that has been scarred by loss and sadness. 

This book brought laughter, feel good moments, and tears. It deals with the struggles of aging, the changes and loss we all face in life, and the deep longing to belong. And the remarkable gift of kindness…something we need more of.

“I always used to think it was silly when people said life was short, but I completely get that now. We're here for such a limited time. The least we can do is try to be kind to the people around us. Humans seem to forget that so easily.” - The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett

The cast of characters is small and so is the setting. The beauty of the story is not the details, but in the depth of honesty in Eudora’s life and the truth of how children love in a way we adults lose track of. 

Perhaps I loved this book, because I saw myself a bit in Rose. When I was a child I spent every moment I could at my grandparents’ house. During that time their neighbor, a former school principal named Esther became my dear friend…whether she wanted to or not. I would ring her doorbell over and over until she came to answer — no patience or perception of the time it might take an elderly woman to get to the door. Every time she opened the door she would say, “Look Gretel,” to her dog, “it’s our Wendy. Come in Wendy.” 

I would follow Esther around the house asking hundreds of questions, picking up every knickknack, and playing with her aged dog. Esther taught me to play the organ (she had a small one in her home), made popcorn balls with me, told me about the importance of education, shared the story of every photograph in her house, and always made room for me. Eventually my grandmother, also named Esther, would come ring the doorbell. I would jog to the door and greet her with, “Already? Oh man.” My elderly friend would shuffle to the door with her dog circling her feet and promise that I could come back tomorrow. 

Now, as an adult, I imagine Esther shuffling back to the couch and enjoying the silence for a few minutes after we shut the door. 

I’ve always loved the memories I had with Esther. She never married or had children, and while she had a sister that lived nearby, much of her life was quiet and lonely. As I listened to Eudora shift from being exhausted by Rose to falling in love with Rose, I thought of Esther. All these years I figured she was just being nice to her neighbors’ grandkid, but maybe in those years she needed me as much as I needed her. Perhaps it felt good to deal with children again after a more than forty year career in education. There’s a chance that her popcorn ball making skills really did need to be sharpened and she really did love to play Take Me Out to the Ballgame over and over on the organ or maybe she needed the fresh wind a ten-year-old can blow into a quiet life.

In Rose and Eudora I heard echoes of Wendy and Esther. The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett  reminded me that we can have family we choose, we can surround ourselves with love and laughter, we can treat each other with kindness, and there are people who will love us for exactly who we are (no matter our age). The book is worth reading for the sheer beauty of the relationships.