A beautiful story! Three people have endured heartache an loss, and now find love and open their hearts to become a family.
This quote from the book sums it up.
"What is it that makes a family? Certainly no document does, no legal pronouncement or accident of birth. No,, real families come from choices we make about who we want to be bound to, and the ties to such families live in our hearts."
A lesson that we each could learn.

What a beautiful book. We all need an Arthur in our lives.

What makes a family? Is it the people we are born to, or the people we are drawn to? While it can certainly be both, for Arthur, Maddy and Lucille their unlikely friendship develops into a bond that none of them could have foreseen.. Each had their own particular loneliness. Arthur missed his late wife and visited her grave daily. Lucille, who never married, is reunited with her one love, on,y to have him die. Maddy doesn't know why her classmates treat her so poorly. She thinks she knows why her father distances himself emotionally, but it hurts nevertheless. Arthur, Maddy and Lucille are drawn together and create a family of their own.

For six months Arthur Moses has packed a bag lunch and taken a bus to the cemetery to eat lunch with his wife Nola. He stops to visit her neighbors, reading their headstones and imagining the lives they had lived when alive.

At Nola's graveside, Arthur sets up his folding chair and eats his sandwich.

Arthur is eighty-five years old. His doctor congratulations him; he could live to be one hundred. It would be an empty life, now Nola Corrine the Beauty Queen is gone.

But on this spring day when the buds 'are all like tiny little pregnant women' and Arthur wishes Nola, like spring, would return again, even as a new born baby, Arthur notices he is not alone with his dead.

A teenage girl, who should be in school, is sitting under a tree. He has seen her before. This time, he waves. Her hand flies to her mouth, and thinking he has frightened her, Arthur leaves.

Maddy watches the old man walk to the bus. She is comforted by the graveyard. In life, she is a loner, a loser, a motherless girl with a distant father. She likes to take photographs of little things, blown up big. She sneaks out of the house at night to meet a handsome older boy. They don't talk much.

Arthur befriends Maddy, changing both their lives.

The Story of Arthur Truluv probes the depth of loneliness and depression in the elderly and the young, bringing disparate characters into clear focus, revealing their common humanity and mutual need.

Arthur's untapped capacity for love expands and embraces Maddy, and then his cranky elderly neighbor Lucille.

Named Truluv by Maddy, Arthur embodies true love not only for his lost Nola but also for the lost Maddy and unloved Lucille.

This charming, quiet novel will appeal to many readers. At first, though, I wondered what made it different? What made it worth reading over other books about friendship between the old and young or between the elderly?

In the Acknowledgements, Elizabeth Berg says, "When you write a novel as delicate as this one seemed to me to be, you can only hope that readers will see beyond the simple words on the page to the more complex meanings behind them."

And it hit me. This story is a kind of parable.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
“Who is my neighbor?”
Love your neighbor. And who is my neighbor? My neighbor is any person God has put in my path.

This gentle story reminds us to love one another. The cranky, the misfits, the girl with the nose ring, the ineffectual father, the unborn--and ourselves.

Can we ever hear this message enough? It is today as revolutionary as it was millennium ago, going against common sense and financial sense, even against this administration's governmental goals.

Our inability to love one another is the greatest threat to democracy today. We have cut ourselves off, categorizing our fellow human companions on this small planet as 'other', inferior, contemptible, unnecessary, mistaken and misguided.

Who should we love? The Parable of the Good Samaritan is not about helping those who are like us, supporting people of our ilk, class, race, faith. We are to love whoever God puts into our path. Right there, next door to us, the person mourning at the cemetery across from us, even the person who has caused another to feel unloved and rejected. We are to love the stranger, those who grieve, those who are angry, those who have been rejected, those who are warped, and those who cannot love themselves.

Arthur Truluv's example teaches us that by our acts we can impact the world for generations. Love your neighbor as yourself. If each of us resists the world's wisdom by this radical act, what a wonderful world it would be.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

A sweet touching story about love, loss and the people who are family by circumstance rather than birth. The characters, especially Arthur, are memorable. The only thing I would have liked was more build up of the early relationship of Arthur and Maddy. The lack of this made the story less fluid and believable. But it was forgivable. If you take that leap, it is a nice story.

A beautifully written novel not only filled with unforgettable characters and full of emotion, but full with the promise that life has surprises when least expected. This was a deeply touching read that left me wanting these characters to be real and part of my own extended family---both to give and receive happiness from. The author tugged at my heartstrings and I loved each and every word! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book prior to publication--it was a real joyous and satisfying read!

Loved this wonderfully written and sweet book which proves that family is what you make of it. The characters are enchanting and entirely believable. We should all be so lucky to meet someone like Arthur!

This book makes overtures to the popular A Man Called Ove-- complete with childless widower, cat annoyance, bossy neighbor, and bittersweet life lessons learned all around-- but with a mere fraction of the charm.

Arthur Moses visits his wife's grave every day. He doesn't have much human contact outside of his neighbor, Lucille, who is a general irritation to him even if she does bake amazing cookies. Every day at the graveyard, he is surrounded by the stories of the deceased to keep him company. Then he notices the teen girl who hangs around the cemetery sometimes. She'd be a very pretty girl if not for that nose ring.

For whatever reason, life has deemed it appropriate to give Maddy Harris a raw deal. When she was a baby, her mother died in a car accident, and her father never got over it. In his grief over his lost wife, he barely notices that Maddy is still alive. The kids at school treat her like an outcast, and Maddy has never been able to figure out why they hate her so much. Her first boyfriend is a total jerk to her. And then she gets pregnant in the most medically improbable (impossible?) manner, a situation which more or less leaves her homeless.

Lucille is in her eighties, and, at long last, her first love has come back to her. She's been alone for a long time, but there's still time for a second act. She finally sees the appeal of living into her nineties. But then a tragedy strikes and sets Lucille adrift.

This book is about Arthur, Maddy, and Lucille slowly finding each other and forging an unlikely friendship. I suppose it's meant feel heartwarming, but it didn't work for me. I didn't connected with the author's writing style at all. There's lots of words in itallics and lots of exclamation points! I feel like readers can be trusted to place the proper emphasis on words without such copious help. Secondary characters are two dimensional, like Maddy's father and her boyfriend, both of whom serve no purpose beyond making readers feel sympathy for Maddy. In lieu of well-developed characters, this book takes the easy road to jerk tears from readers: birth and death. At 240 pages, this slim volume felt a lot longer.

And up next to be read this weekend is Elizabeth Berg’s new book, The Story of Arthur Truluv. I’ve long been a fan of this author and every time she writes a new book, I’m anxious to read it. This is the quirky kind of story that I absolutely love.

Here’s the synopsis:

A moving novel about three people who find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of happiness. Arthur, a widow, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who is avoiding school by hiding out at the cemetery, where Arthur goes every day for lunch to have imaginary conversations with his late wife, and think about the lives of others. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation. Maddy gives Arthur the name Truluv, for his loving and positive responses to every outrageous thing she says or does. With Arthur’s nosy neighbor Lucille, they create a loving and unconventional family, proving that life’s most precious moments are sweeter when shared.

When I read the summary of this book I was not that excited. There seems to be an overabundance of new books about old men. Some of them are really wonderful such as "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" or "A Man Called Ove". I have read several books in this genre and I am sort of tired of it. But since this book is by one of my all-time favorite authors, I gave it a go. I really liked this book. The interaction between the older generation and the young girl was fun and heartwarming. The characters were all well developed so there was nothing cookie cutter about the story. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an uplifting read. It would be a great choice for a book club.

This is a wonderful story and we all need an Arthur Truluv in our lives. The author paints a lovely portrait of young and old, sadness and joy, family and hope. It is a poignant story that reminds us that happiness can be attained at any age..

Perfect. Loved the characters and can't stop thinking about the story and the deeper meanings.

Sometimes I feel honored to be able to read and review a particular book. That's exactly how I feel about Elizabeth Berg's new novel. Ms. Berg delights the reader again with her easygoing, smooth dialogue and her complex, stellar, characters. Arthur has lunch with his wife ever day. He never misses, always bringing his sandwich and folding chair. Carrying his load on the bus has become cumbersome, but his daily lunch and chat is well worth it. He sets his chair in front of the granite stone marker at her grave and talks to Nola about his past day. He notices a young girl with a backpack watching him. This girl is Maddy, a young lady who has her own tough life to deal with. The story revolves around these two characters as they deal with heartache, the loss of very special people and how an unusual friendship can move mountains and heal the brokenhearted. I loved the heartfelt prose and beautiful relationships in this book! I highly recommend this book and any others of best-selling author, Elizabeth Berg.

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg will be available July 25, 2017 by Random House Publishing Group/Random House. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

I have been a huge Elizabeth Berg fan for many years. I was delighted to have a chance to read this new book. I loved the book. As usual, Berg nails the characters, especially the elderly ones. I loved the whole story. Was reading so intently, I was surprised I had finished it.

Mandy is a high school senior whose mother has died. She now feels estranged from her withdrawn father. Bullied and ostracized by her classmates, she often seeks refuge at the town cemetery where she takes photographs and relishes the peace she finds there.

Arthur is an elderly widower whose life revolves around his daily visits to his wife’s grave at the cemetery. He finds peace and comfort in these visits.

Lucille is Arthur’s elderly neighbor. She has never been married and regrets that life seems to have passed her by.

These three lonely and marginalized people begin to find purpose as their lives become intertwined in Elizabeth Berg’s beautifully written novel. The characters are realistic and endearing, and the reader is drawn in to their stories. This wonderful novel is a story of kindness, acceptance, love, and the true meaning of family.
Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Books, and author Elizabeth Berg for giving me the opportunity to read this outstanding novel which is scheduled to be released in July.

A sweet story by a favorite author. I was so happy to read about Arthur and his love for his wife, along with the other people who he meets.

Fabulous story, Personally the language is a bit filthy in parts and segments sexually explicit too. I get that they're a part of the lonely main character's effort to find herself. I do appreciate the idea that interacting with morally grounded "old people" helps an out of balance and lost teenager find her center, and find peace in clean living. I love the idea of lonely people reaching out to each other and discovering that there is joy in serving one another..Sweet story.

I gobbled this book up in one day. EB tells the story of Arthur Moses, an eighty-five year old whose wife, Nola, was buried six months ago. He visits the cemetery every day to have lunch with her. While there, he notices and later befriends a lonely teenage girl, Maddy Harris. Their friendship later expands to include Arthur's neighbor, Lucille Howard.
The subtitle of Berg's non-fiction book about writing,THE ART OF WRITING TRUE, perfectly describes her way of saying things that you have thought and saying them true.

This was a lovely short read which I happily devoured in one session.    It was a touching account of octagenarian Arthur and the life he created for himself in the  months after his dearly beloved wife Nola passed away.      It was also the story of teenaged Maddy who had lived a lonesome and somewhat unhappy life with her single father,  and for reasons unknown had become victim to the school bullies .   And there was Lilian, Arthurs neighbour, terrific baker, a bit bossy but good at heart and lonesome.   Arthur and Maddy initially met at the local cemetary.       Each day Arthur ate lunch at his wifes grave whilst Maddy found peace there, escaping the torture of lunches at school.      An unlikely friendship develops between them and despite their many differences they fill needs in each other.

There was alot to like about this book and Elizabeth Bergs characters were delightful.   Arthur was not your typical grumpy old man.   Instead he was patient, understanding of generational differences, considerate and thoroughly supportive towards Maddy and Lilian.      Which is not to say he was a saint.    He had a cheeky sense of humour and we were privy to some internal dialogue that he was far too polite to express out loud.  Early on he reflected, and perhaps regretted,  that he had not been spontaneous enough throughout his life with Nola.  From the behaviours we witessed he was either judging himself harshly or he had made major changes in that respect.  To me he was spontaneity personified - but definitely in a good way.      I loved the way Berg delivered some weighty messages within this sweet story.

I'm always happy when I like the main characters and when the story is ultimately uplifting.    When that book also extracts from me a few laughs and a couple of tears it's a winner. This one ticked all those boxes.

Thanks to Elizabeth Berg, Random House and NetGalley for the free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's sweet, predictably sad yet uplifting , maybe a little sappy , and I loved reading it ! Nothing earth shattering happens except in the small world of eighty five year Arthur who has lost his wife and seventeen year old Maddy who lost her mother at birth and loses her father to his grief. They meet at the cemetery where Arthur visits his wife's grave every day toting his lawn chair and lunch and talking to his beloved Nola. Maddy goes there to escape the kids from school who hate her and to suffer in silence from the years her father pretty much ignored as he just can't seem to communicate with her. She reminds him too much of her mother. There's the kind, bossy neighbor Lucille also lonely, who rounds out this unlikely trio who become an odd family as they help each other dissipate the loneliness that has engulfed them . It a short book so not much more to say except that this is a lovely, touching (cliche I know) story. Good for the soul.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Random House through NetGalley.