Just as I started reading this book, my wife, who was looking out our bedroom window, said, “The daffodils are out”. I took it as a sign that I was reading the right book at the right time. And it turned out to be such a funny and sweet book, exactly what I needed. I haven’t laughed as much while reading in a pretty long time.

Since her husband left her a year ago, sixty-two-year-old Rosie has felt depressed and grumpy. Or maybe she already was, even before. In any case, she’s existing, not living. Not going to the office, not seeing friends. Not even grocery shopping, which her daughter Mary does for her, bringing her preteen sons with her, the only—albeit fleeting—company Rosie endures these days. Until Mary suggests she spends a week at a senior retreat in the UK’s Lake District. Rosie agrees reluctantly, then entertains the idea of backing out when she learns she’ll have to share her room but the arrival of the roommate puts a stop to it when it turns out she’s Dawn, Rosie’s former best friend, whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years.

This book is pure joy, despite the awful ex-husband and the grief. Rosie and Dawn are hilarious and relatable and would probably hate being called cute just as much as Rosie hates being called old but god, they really are. I’ll add that Rosie’s daughter Mary has the patience of an angel with her chronically cantankerous mum.

Over a week of Dawn dragging Rosie on adventures that all go ridiculously wrong, the two women rekindle their friendship and allow themselves to let it develop into another kind of relationship, with all the insecurities and vulnerability treading these uncharted waters imply.

I think Paper Daffodils is the author’s debut novel, and she’s working on a sequel. I’m already looking forward to it. 4.5⭐️

Read Paper Daffodils:

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