A gentle read about a woman turning 80 who feels that life has moved on without her. Gradually new friends come into her life, new experiences, and even a dog, make her realize that life goes on and she will too.

Having started this book with no expectations I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Millicent "Missy' Carmichael is about to turn 80, and feeling very isolated and depressed. Through a series of events Missy soon discovers that in order to make friends she just needs to be herself and let people in.
The characters in this book are absolutely delightful. They each bring something to Missy to help her forgive herself and to mend the relationships with her two children that appear to be very fragile if not broken.
A lot of emotions play out in this book, I laughed and cried and adored Missy and her newfound friends. The moral is to be kind and open to new things.
Thanks you HarperCollins Publishers Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. I can highly recommend it.

Despite the depressing start to the book (and I'm glad it was, in retrospect), I found it compelling reading as the story progressed. Missy's low self esteem and self pity were irritating to the point that I wondered if I would continue. I wanted to shake her out of it and put a rocket between the lines to get her going.
And then came the dog. And then new friends because of the dog. And then a gradual change in attitude. And then - hallelujah - Missy pulls up her boot straps and thinks she's not that bad after all. And I agreed with her.
It was worth the struggles, the doubts, the self discovery. I was on the ride with her, hoping she'd find something worth living for. Such a believable character, as were her fellow dog lovers. I enjoyed the book immensely.

The emotions and secrets that Missy confronts during her life all come to a head in her late seventies. Help is at
hand only if Missy is going to trust her new friends and most of all being able trust herself. Other main characters Angela' Sylvia, Bobby and Otis have issues they must come to terms with also and the inter action where regrets, loves, relationships, happiness, desolation are shared becomes the catalyst for all.
This is a magnificent story pulling your emotional strings to laugh, cry and any in between.


As a 73 year old male let me make an observation concerning marketing with so called Women's fiction and Chic Lit. Noticing that this amazing story has only two male reviewers from twenty nine at NetGalley I feel for the author as this is an excellent story to be on everyone's reading list.

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey takes the reader through a plethora of emotions, as they traverse the stories of the complex life of Missy Carmichael. Through Missy, the reader experiences the sorrow of lost love and loss, the anger and pain of fractured family relationships and distance, the emptiness and helplessness of being alone.
But through Missy , we also learn that age is no barrier to building new friendships and relationships and trying new things, that it is never too late to build bridges, and that everyone should experience the unconditional love of a dog.
Saving Missy is a relatable story and a thoroughly enjoyable read

Saving Missy is a endearing story. Initially I found it very depressing as the main character Missy was obviously lonely and sad - so the writing felt that way too! As Missy started to meet people in the area and especially once she started looking after a dog called Bob and renamed Bobby, the tone of the story also changed. This was a very easy book to read though it was an emotional story with a lot of reflection on the past but also on coping with ones current situation. The friends Missy makes via the dog walking are amazing!

As a debut author, Beth Morrey has written an excellent novel and I look forward to keeping an eye out for the next one.

Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Publisher Australia for a copy of this novel to read and review.

Saving Missy is an absolutely gorgeous read, with real & heartwarming characters and beautiful character arcs and development.
I couldn't put this book down, but also never wanted the story to end.

I loved this book. It was well written with believable and relatable characters whose lives I became invested in. Missy is so prickly and stand-offish when we first meet her, but over time meeting two new friends, Angela and Sylvie, who refuse to allow Missy to shut them out, releases Missy from the restrictions she’s placed on herself.

Flashbacks to earlier times in her life in Cambridge and her family life when her children were young give us some insight into how she got to where she is today. It’s a lesson to us about how pride and wanting to keep up appearances can lead you to shut yourself off from the better things in life. It’s also a reminder to younger people that the elderly were young once too!

The little mini-twist near the end was a surprise I didn’t see coming, so well done.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would love to read the author’s future work.

This is a story of life and love lost and found! It is a story that transcends time and generations, it is a story of finding friendships and helping others and it is a story that is a part of everyone’s lives.
A novel yes, a true story absolutely.
Missy a woman in her later years has loved and lost but now she finds friendship in the most unlikely places (for her). Secrets and thoughts that have been held in for far too long emerge, confidence that has been lacking for so long has brought new life and family ties once broken are now repaired.
I loved this book more than I thought I would, it brings our everyday normal lives to the fore, making us think that there is always hope, love and friendship waiting for you but sometimes you just need a little push to get out there and see the world that is there spinning around you!
I recommend everyone read this book!

A touching read about a relatively common issue in our society these days, being elderly and lonely. This story gives hope because you can never tell what’s around the corner!

Missy (Millicent) thought she was destined to live a lonely existence for the rest of her twilight years. Her darling husband Leo sadly isn’t with her anymore. Missy lives in their large and mostly empty house including an attic filled with fascinating things of the past and valuable pieces. It’s a home too big and lonely for one person.

Missy’s very reserved but likes to indulge in a drink or two and she’s holding onto a heart wrenching, secret, one that had filled her life with grief and guilt since she was a young woman.

Her son Alistair and her beloved grandson Arthur have moved to Australia and she misses them terribly. Sadly Missy has a mostly strained relationship with her daughter Melanie, who after a bad argument never visits her anymore.

On a cold bitterly day, Missy is off to see the ‘fish stunning’ at the local park, why would you electrocute fish? It would be something to do after all and she needed something interesting to write about that she could put into her emails to Alistair, her son.

A chance encounter and the kindness of strangers at the park suddenly turn Missy’s life around. Missy finds herself with the most unlikely of friendships that gives her life a whole new meaning and purpose.

There is an unexpected twist towards the end of the story to which I’ve got to admit I didn’t see coming, I was totally surprised, brilliant! A heart warming, unique and beautiful debut novel. The story was well paced, realistic and breathtakingly enjoyable.

A review by Nalini Haynes scheduled for publication on DMZ on 1 January 2020

HarperCollins is publishing Saving Missy in Australia and provided my review copy. However, Penguin Random House is publishing it elsewhere under the title The Love Story of Missy Carmichael, which gives much more positive overtones to the story.

HarperCollins blurb says:

Prickly. Stubborn. Terribly lonely.
But everyone deserves a second chance… A dazzling debut for 2020 – are you ready to meet Missy Carmichael?

Missy Carmichael’s life has become small. Grieving for a family she has lost or lost touch with, she’s haunted by the echoes of her footsteps in her empty home; the sound of the radio in the dark; the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock.

Spiky and defensive, Missy knows that her loneliness is all her own fault. She deserves no more than this; not after what she’s done. But a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new.

Another life beckons for Missy, if only she can be brave enough to grasp the opportunity. But seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn’t it?

Penguin Random House has a different blurb:

For readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and A Man Called Ove, a life-affirming, deeply moving “coming-of-old” story, a celebration of how ordinary days are made extraordinary through friendship, family, and the power of forgiving yourself–at any age.

Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Woman meets dog…

PRH puts a much more positive spin on the story. Please note: I wrote this review in response both to the story and the presentation, including the title ‘Saving Missy’ and HC’s blurb. Had I seen PRH’s title and blurb earlier than 5 minutes ago, when editing this review to schedule it, my review would have been different.

The story
At 78 years of age, Missy Carmichael is a lonely old woman. She used to be too busy to reach out to others, too focused on her husband, but now she is alone. One day she’s in the park and sees a boy who reminds her of her grandson living overseas. She seeks a connection. Two women respond, opening up a world Missy never knew. They are saving Missy.

Saving Missy and representation of the elderly
It’s refreshing to see an elderly woman in a story that is so relatable. Missy’s husband has gone, and her children have moved away, isolating her after she gave up her career to spend her life focused on caring for them. Now, Missy flees connections because she’s afraid of how people view her. She’s isolated, but that isolation is not unique to her generation. Human connection is essential, so Missy hovers around the edges of groups in the park, in a café, just like the human herd animals Hugh Mackay discusses in his sociological nonfiction. (See Mackay’s Turning Point, 1998.)

Morrey’s representation of Missy feels in part loving but in part a condemnation of the older generation. We all have our regrets, just like Missy. But equally we do the best we can with what we have. There’s little to no acknowledgement of this for Missy. Morrey appears to judge Missy for giving up her career, for complying with her husband’s wishes that resulted in Missy’s isolation. The official HarperCollins book blurb also condemns Missy as the architect of her own suffering. And yet Missy’s story provides insight into loneliness and isolation as the result of an abusive, unequal marriage.

Millennials and GenXers to the rescue
The reverse of this is that it is younger people who save Missy. None of those who reach out to Missy and support her in this novel are of Missy’s generation. Not one. Instead, it is millennials and GenXers unite to bring her out of her shell. Although in reality they would barely have time for her. Except maybe to pity her. This makes for a nice story, very flattering to younger generations, but also highly unrealistic. (I’m not a Boomer, ok? And Missy was born before the Boomer generation began.)

Even Brexit is worked into the story to heap more condemnation upon Missy, to give her another source of guilt.

Saving Missy and LGBT people
One of Missy’s children is a lesbian. Although Missy suspected, it was at her 30th birthday party that she came completely out of the closet and introduced her partner. Although Missy accepted this, her abusive husband didn’t. Neither Missy nor her daughter even wanted the big birthday bash: it was Missy’s husband that wanted it. He wanted to show off his clever daughter and bask in glory. And he was furious when she made a speech and made the night about her birthday and her partner. Cue family row.

Not only was Missy accepting of her daughter’s sexuality — merely trying to fend off a family row — but Missy also accepts a gay couple without question. Her comments in the narrative, both as dialogue and internal musings, are focused on the appearances of the couple and their dogs.

Pawssible
Dogs are a major feature of the story. And perhaps I’m being unfair when I criticise the story arc because I’ve never had the opportunity to frequent a dog park as a dog owner.

Saving Missy and domestic violence
Although the narrative tends to blame Missy Carmichael for accepting her husband’s requirements in the home, the story does engage with issues of domestic violence. This is violence perpetrated towards another woman, Bob the dog’s owner, who is a minor character. However, her husband threatens other women, including Missy. The way this is handled is inspiring although a man who is prepared to be violent towards his wife and to threaten two women, one of them elderly, may in reality have been violent. Morrey’s solution is not to be emulated without understanding that there is grave risk.

The wrap
For all my criticisms of this contemporary fiction novel, I heartily enjoyed it. The characters are engaging, especially Bob the dog. During the climax, tragedy strikes; my husband got up one morning to find me with tears streaming down my face because Saving Missy is so emotionally engaging. I cared about the characters. Misdirection leads to a minor twist that gives more depth to the story. Characters working together in give and take, developing mutual interest, is aspirational. Saving Missy is an unusual intergenerational character-driven story featuring an elderly woman as a central character, giving hope that it’s never too late.

Book details
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
ISBN: 9780008334024 (HarperCollins Au)
ISBN10: 0008334021 (HarperCollins Au)
ISBN: 9780525542445 (Hardcover, Penguin Random House not in Australia)
Imprint: HarperCollins
Imprint: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Random House)
Released: January 2020 in Australia; April 2020 overseas
Format: I reviewed an ebook ARC; pp. 384; PRH says it’s 352 pages for their hardcover
Category: general fiction

SAVING MISSY is the third book I read this year that features an older heroine (Missy is rapidly approaching 80), and I am so glad to see older people making a come-back in fiction! There is something irresistible about books that reflect back on life’s journey, and knowing that wonderful new things can still happen in the winter of your life.

If I had to sum up this book in just a few words, I would say it is about friendships, and the power of people to save each other. Missy is a woman in her late seventies living in her big empty house in London, feeling the silence suffocating her. To escape her loneliness and to have something to write about to her grandson on the other side of the world, she takes long walks through the park, which does little to improve her isolation. Until an accident put her in the path of strangers who will end up changing her life forever – through the most unlikely friendships.

The narrative of SAVING MISSY unfolds slowly, as Missy’s life gradually changes for the better through the budding friendships she has recently – and reluctantly – forged. Throughout the book, she reflects back on her life and the choices she has made that have brought her to this place in time, her lonely existence, her empty house. Although Missy can be prickly at times, and tends to close herself off when she feels stressed, she is a very different character to Eleanor Oliphant, which is a comparison that has been made in the media. So if you weren’t a fan of Eleanor, be reassured that Missy is completely different. And if you were, then this book will still offer you a very unique character who is worth your time getting to know.

I’m not sure if this book is being marketed as “uplit”, but I thought it fits the genre well. There is some tragedy, as life most often serves up through one’s lifetime at some stage, but the general message is one of hope and salvation when one has all but lost hope. I loved the way the author brought out this feel-good vibe in a way that never sounded preachy, or stereotypical, or cheesy – indeed a difficult balance to achieve. If this cynical reader claims that – then this is saying something! As the story took me on its roller coaster ride of life’s ups and downs, I laughed, I cringed, I shivered a little and I shed quite a few tears. There will be triggers for some readers, which I can’t discuss because of spoilers, but just be prepared to have your heart ground in the dirt and stomped on a few times, and have some tissues handy!

I read about an interview with the author, in which she said that she “wanted to write a book that could make people cry, but with happiness, not sadness.” I feel that she has totally fulfilled that criteria.

My favourite book of 2019 so far, Saving Missy is an absolute delight. Centred around the wonderful, complex character of Millicent (so much more than the grumpy old woman she initially seems), Saving Missy tells an absorbing, heart-warming tale of forgiveness, friendship and redemption. It's a beautiful story but it pulls no punches, with harsher notes of realism preventing the story from ever becoming overly twee or sentimental.
The cast of unique, imperfect characters and the relationships that develop between them are beautifully written and feel so very real.
I adored this book and will be recommending it to anyone who will listen.

A really enjoyable read that left me with a smile. Very much a “feel good” book and a perfect holiday read. Will definitely be hand selling this one to my customers.

“Surveying the boxes, chests and trunks - the leftovers of lost lives: Fa-Fa, Jette, my mother and father, Leo, even Alistair and Mel, since they’d begun new lives elsewhere – I fancied I could hear the echo of them all in their things.”

Saving Missy is the first novel by British author, Bath Morrey. Now that dear her son Alistair and her sweet little grandson Arthur have returned to Australia after their Christmas visit, Missy can admit to herself that she is desperately lonely. Their big house is so empty without Leo, and her daughter Melanie, teaching in Cambridge, no longer visits London after the row they had. But Millicent Carmichael is also a reserved English lady who does not display her feelings in public.

When she spots young Otis in the park one day, that ache for her grandson intensifies. His redhead mother is obviously a terrible woman, loud, and unpleasant. Casually waiting for another glimpse of Otis, Missy meets interior designer Sylvie Riche and is invited for coffee along with Irish Angela and Otis. But do these people really want her company?

It turns out that Angela needs someone to watch Otis when journalistic deadlines loom, and Missy decides she can put up with strong opinions peppered with expletives, imparted through a haze of smoke and alcohol, if it means a dose of little boy. But even more urgently required is a place for Bob, a dog whose family can’t keep her just now. Missy is quite sure she does not want a dog.

A change of heart, though, sees Missy meeting dog walkers and, almost unintentionally, allowing Angela, Otis and Sylvie into her house, her attic and, eventually, her life. Inside, the house is more than “minimalist” bare: Missy has relegated clutter and anything deemed unnecessary to the attic.

Triggered by exchanges with her new acquaintances, and items brought forth out of the attic, memories from Missy’s childhood, her first encounter with Leonard Carmichael, and significant incidents during their almost six decades of marriage, emerge. Thus the reader learns how Missy Carmichael arrived at this point in her life. Gradually revealed, too, are Missy’s secrets, her regrets and those things about which she feels most guilty.

When Missy has unbent enough to accept the help and love and care on offer, it turns out she herself has more to offer than she ever dreamed. Missy discovers that, even in her eighty-first year, she can give comfort and support and knowledge to those who need it, something quite different from the role of a wife and mother that precluded any possible career her splendid degree might have offered.

Morrey gives the reader a beautiful story with some predictable moments and a few surprises. Her depictions of London and Cambridge are evocative, and her characters feel like people you meet in real life. She gives lots of them wise words and Missy’s observation on the memory stick: “You just plugged it in, apparently. If only memories were that easy to access, and contain” is bound to resonate with readers of a certain vintage. There are plenty of wry observations and more than a few laugh-out-loud scenes. This debut novel is a wonderfully uplifting read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Better Reading Preview and Harper Collins Australia

I was drawn to “Saving Missy” because I’d seen quotes likening it to “Eleanor Oliphant is
Completely Fine”, a novel I loved quite unreservedly. Although I’m often disappointed in novels that have been compared to others, this time I was thrilled to find that although this is a very different novel, it does both have some of the same themes and rouse the same kind of emotional response.

Missy is 79 when the novel opens. She’s living alone in her now too-large house, but it holds all her memories. The idea of leaving gives her the chills. Her son has moved to Australia, taking her only grandchild; her daughter is physically closer but emotionally far more distant. Missy is alone. She doesn’t want to be, but constrained by her fears about what others will think of her, she doesn’t quite know how to change that.

One day Missy goes to the park to watch a bunch of fish be electrically stunned in order to move them to another pond. That’s how desperate she is for things to write to her son about. She meets Angela, and Sylvie, and Otis; neighbours she’s never seen before. Missy doesn’t know how to reach out, and her prickly side comes out unexpectedly when others reach out to her. But Angela is spectacularly pushy, and Sylvie cheerfully caring. Between the two of them Missy is soon, half unwillingly, building relationships with the people around her.

Morrey knows how to rouse an emotional response without being manipulative or overtly tugging on your heartstrings. She has created genuine characters, placed them in a situation most will be able to empathise with, and then essentially showed us a glorious future for Missy.

Each character is strong and distinctive, and you’ll likely feel they’re familiar – that in one aspect or another, they’re like someone you know. Not all of them are immediately likeable, but they all generate an emotional response. Like Missy, you’ll probably find that some of them grow on you over time.

Missy herself is central to the novel, and she’s a wonderful character. Her shyness, her worries about what other people think, her fretting about how they’ll react to her, her feeling that often she either says the wrong thing or it simply comes out wrong... These are all things most people have experienced to some degree. She draws readers’ empathy. Indeed, my heart almost broke for her when she lamented that it wasn’t the physical objects stolen from her that she minded – it was the associations they held, who gave them to her, and why. This was so exactly my feeling when a victim of theft some years ago that I had to put the novel down for a few minutes.

The plot is simple: the story of how Missy re-engages with the world. There are some minor surprises, but this is a character driven novel. Although I found the incidents believable, the pace well judged, and the plot overall credible, it’s not anything extraordinary – just a good solid story.

This is a wonderful book. It’s deeply moving, and it evokes so many different feelings: sadness, fear, joy, occasional laughter. I loved what it said about people in general, I loved seeing Missy emerge from her self-imposed isolation, I loved the sense of hope that permeated the novel.

Go and read “Saving Missy”. I doubt you’ll regret it.

Great read. Sensitive & emotional. Makes one realise that life has many twists and turns but that happiness comes when one least expects it even in loneliness.

Found it a bit slow but had an interesting storyline. It's abit of a chick lit type book, and I enjoyed reading and following her journey from loneliness to finding her place.

When I saw this book was a must for fans of Eleanor Oliphant I grabbed it straight away.  

We are introduced to Millicent Carmichael and her lonely life.. a series of coincidences and bravery on Missy's part sees her life change direction in a way she would never have anticipated.

The characters she meets along this journey jump off the page, they are vivid and well written.   There is a bit of mystery and suspense and heartache.  

You know when you read a book and you just know something is building and despite your best efforts it makes you cry like a baby.

I loved this book and will certainly look out for this author in the future.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

This is a delightful book, the demographics will mostly appeal to older readers, parents who have survived teenagers and young adults holding breath for the moment when they leave home! Ahh! the tranquility.

However, the thought of the empty nest is not a joyous one for the main character, Missy (Millicent) who is similar to those women who have given up all ideas of a career after having children leaving the thought of her empty large house with her rattling around in it alone only intensifying her depression and loneliness. However, it seems that Missy has really been alone all her married life propped up by alcohol. A successful husband, Leo, who as a parent did just the play thing with the children leaving Missy to do the real parenting. She has a strong relationship with her son who has to her dismay married an Australian and has moved to that part of the world. Ali (Alister) and her grandson Arthur have just returned to Australia after spending Christmas with her and she is in an emotional black hole. Her relationship with her daughter, is tenuous, her daughter is successful like her father and with a similar personality. The two have had a terrible argument but the details are not revealed for sometime into the read.

Missy has decided to get out of the house, Leo's voice in her head, "onward and upward", so she's off to see the fish stunning in the local park. It's here when she blacks out that Missy's life does an about face and her world begins to take on a new meaning filled with an assortment of colourful people that begin to enter her life. This is a woman who has always been a giver, never asking for much in return and is a bit of an easy target for these pushy new friends but the reward is that she begins to look at herself in a new light and it's fabulous to see how she grows, finds her own voice, flexes her muscles, opens her heart and learns to role with the punches when small disasters happen, life! Her relationship with her daughter improves, she accepts that her grandson's Australian grandparents will adore Arthur as much as she does and she is eventually able to absolve herself of the guilt of a decision made as a young woman that has been a burden all her life.