Pippa Allsbrook was a true feminist and trailblazer within her own right, as she was the one who founded a club called "the Fellowship of Puzzle Makers." This act alone provides something that all those cruciverbalists and enigmatologist need, which is fellowship with like minds and intelligence. That was unheard of and the fact that it's the brainchild and run by a woman is an anomaly. Slowly within the first meeting, it was settled, and the "Fellowship" commenced. Then one day, Pippa finds a little hat box and she knows as she removes the lid, there is someone watching her discover the baby within. With the support of the Fellowship, baby Clayton Stumper thrives within the community. As Clayton grows, his curiosity about his past never diminishes but many of the characters from the Fellowship teaches him life lessons. For instance, Earl Vosey shows him how to shave and ride a bicycle.

Pippa sadly passes at the beginning of the novel. Yet even in death, she leaves behind puzzles for Clayton to solve, leading him away from the comforts of home to London. During this adventure, he makes new friends and ultimately discovers his roots.

A very sweet story and I suppose a cozy mystery of how even in death, Pippa has formulated puzzles for Clayton to solve which leads him to London, away from the comforts of his home and forces him to take new adventures and make friends and ultimately, leads him back to answering who and where he came from. This story is told not only in a dual timeline: past and present.

A charming and perfect "quiet" read. If you're looking for an action-packed thriller like "The Bourne Identity," this novel might not be your cup of tea. While personally, it is not my usual type of reading, I found it incredibly heartwarming.

Thank you to NetGalley and DoubleDay for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is told along two timelines and two POVs. We follow Clayton’s present day quest to learn his background alternating with Pippa’s life before Clayton. It starts with Pippa’s death followed by the series of puzzles and clues she leaves for Clayton so he can discover his birth mother. The clues also help Clayton to discover himself.

Interspersed with Clayton’s journey of self-discovery we learn of Pippa’s life and her founding of the Fellowship. Simultaneously, we learn of the various members of the Fellowship and how they interact with Pippa, with each other, and with Clayton. I would have liked to learn more about Clayton’s childhood and his relationship to Pippa and the other members as a child growing up.

The premise of the novel is unique. However, while we get to meet many of the other members of the Fellowship, their stories are briefly told and are never fully-developed. Additionally, the pace is slow and I found myself putting it down to read other novels in between before returning to this one.

Ultimately, this is a story about finding one’s identity (for both Pippa and Clayton) and the importance of family and love, no matter how they’re defined.

Phew, this book was filled with fascinating descriptions and even more intriguing "new" words for me, like enigmatologist, cruciverbalist, etc. Who doesn't love to learn new things as they read a delightful story?
I was drawn to this story by the title, as a fellow lover of puzzles. Once I started reading, I really enjoyed the mysteries and puzzles that were woven through past and present. Peppa's story and her creation of the fellowship was unique, as a fearless problem-solver and solo female. I absolutely loved how she paved the way for Clayton to learn more about himself and his birth parents after her death, through her final puzzle and comforting charm. The quirkiness and character connections made this story that much more enjoyable!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I love puzzles and escape rooms so was excited to read this one. It was interesting and a good read but there were pages and pages that drug on. I wanted to be engrossed in the story and flipping pages but I wasn't. It was good, don't get me wrong but I just wanted some faster moving action.

🎩Don't need to be a puzzler to thoroughly enjoy this story😊

Samuel Burr's heartwarming story of a group of talented puzzlers and the foundling boy they raise was a total pleasure to read, from the first arrival of a mysterious hat box at their doorstep to the conclusion. I am a middling puzzler at best, anything beyond sudoku and the occasional word search and crossword usually just frustrates me, but this endearing motley crew and their evolution into a close-knit family held me in their thrawl and foundling Clayton Stumper's quest for information about his biological parents kept the story moving through the puzzle of his birth and arrival into their care to the epiphany of his parentage.

The story continuously flows back and forth in time, from the day Pippa Allsbrook founds the Fellowship in a London pub to the final pages and Clayton's happy realization of his whole history. I was a bit leery of keeping all the characters straight, but the author gives them each unique talents and pretty early on I became comfortable telling them apart.

Pippa has her own challenges as the puzzling community is largely a man's world, but she quickly takes the lead in organizing them and, in particular, with Hector the jigsaw artist, caring for her group of fellow puzzlers. Clayton's unexpected delivery to their doorstop fills a mothering need she thought she had missed out on. By then, Pippa has truly learned that together there are few limits to what they can achieve, but raising Clayton is the cherry to finish off her sundae🍧.

And I loved Clayton's journey from an insulated, somewhat fusty, introvert to a young man ready to brave new experiences, uncover his true self and find romance. His kindness to Cilla, an older, lonely woman he meets by chance on the streets of London, really touched me.

Such a delight to read, and, yes, there are some puzzles that the reader can choose to solve along the way, but they are not the point of this lovely story about bonds of affection and community.

Thanks to publishers Vintage Anchor/Doubleday and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

My review has already or, upon publication, will be shared on Amazon, B&N, kobo, Goodreads and Bookbub.

This is a very sweet cozy book, and it's not my usual fare, which is why I don't think it was for me. I really wanted to love it, and the story is well told, but the characters didn't connect with me, and I wish more of the story was told in present day.

3.5 stars

Fiftysomething Pippa Allsbrook is an unmarried cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle enthusiast) who longs to socialize with like-minded individuals. So Pippa starts a club called 'The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers', and recruits a variety of puzzlers, including: a codebreaker, an arithmetician; a trivialist; a jigsaw puzzle maker; an inventor of mechanical puzzles; a maze-designer; etc.

All the puzzlemakers - and the folks they meet - are engaging, each with his/her individual history, personality, and quirks. For instance, Sir Derek Wadlow, a codebreaker, was part of the team that built the Enigma machine at Bletchley Park; Earl Vosey is a personable maze-maker whose wife has cancer; Nancy Stone is a cab driver who excels at trivia; Hector Haywood is a quiet artist turned jigsaw designer; Angel, a housekeeper/cook, means well but causes chaos; and more.

In time the puzzlers become a kind of family, and decide to share a big house in the country, with a room for each resident, and studios and outbuildings where the puzzlemakers can work. The members, who make money from their puzzles, contribute to the household expenses.

Pippa never had a child, and she feels an absence in her life. Then one day a miracle happens. A black leather hatbox with gold trim is left on the doorstep of the Fellowship residence. Inside the box is a baby boy, only a few days old. Pippa becomes the boy's guardian, and all the puzzlemakers help raise the little fellow, who's named Clayton Stumper. Clayton is very happy at the Fellowship, though he's curious about his history: Who are his parents? Why did they give him away? Clayton can't seem to get any answers.

Then when Clayton is twenty-five, Pippa dies and leaves Clayton a series of puzzles to solve. The puzzles are actually a kind of treasure hunt that provides clues about Clayton's parents. The crosswords and riddles take Clayton to London, and then to the continent, and Clayton -who was very sheltered at the Fellowship - makes new friends along the way.

The story is told in dual timelines, so that Clayton's adventures in the present alternate with flashbacks to the past, when the puzzlemakers come together, establish their fellowship, 'adopt' Clayton, and so on.

I enjoyed this charming story, which shows that a diverse group of people can become a family; and that love can fluorish in unexpected places. As a bonus, the enthusiastic reader can try to solve the puzzles along with Clayton (they're not so easy).

Thanks to Netgalley, Samuel Burr, and Doubleday for a copy of the book.

Thanks so much to the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! This was such a sweet little story that was perfect to read on a cold day with a cup of tea. I really felt like I was being given a hug in book form! As someone who loves puzzles, I also really enjoyed how interactive this was. My one gripe would be that I wish we spent more time in the present day instead of the past. Overall, this was a really enjoyable reading experience!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers follows Clayton, a young man who was left on the doorstep of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers and raised by Pippa, the head of the Fellowship, as well as most of the other puzzlers in the group. Clayton does not know much about his family's past, and when Pippa passes away at the beginning of the novel, he finds out she left clues for him to find out who his biological family is. While the cast of characters is unique and each brings something new to the table, something about the story just fell a bit flat for me. It was difficult to get through in some places, but that might just be a problem with the formatting of the e-arc. I would like to revisit this when it's published because I did feel like I missed out on some key pieces of information while reading it as an arc.

A sweet story about a young man, raised by a commune of puzzlers, trying to find his parents after the death of his beloved guardian. The characters were well developed and their relationships drove the story to a satisfying conclusion.

The best kind of book - a fantastic story and subtle messages about family and exploring both the world and yourself. Pippa founds the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers and gains a family. She adopts Clayton, a small baby and he is raised by the Fellowship. When Pippa passes, she leaves Clayton a puzzle to unlock his past and find his future life.

I loved this book. Anyone that loves a good story or a cozy British novel, or puzzles will enjoy this novel. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for an early read in exchange for a fair review.

Clayton was found on the steps of The Puzzlemakers Fellowship when he was just a baby. He was joyfully taken in and raised by the founder Pippa, and the other members of the fellowship. While Clay always felt loved, he also yearned to know who his biological mother was. When Pippa died, she left Clay one final puzzle, the solution of which would lead him to the answer he had always sought.

Told in both the present story of Clay looking to solve the clues and find his bio mom as well as in the past and the formation of the puzzlemakers fellowship and how Clayton came to be dropped off there. This story has many puzzles of a wide variety to be solved as well as a couple sweet romance storylines woven through. The puzzles are complex - too much for me to solve, so I was grateful that the solution come quickly enough that I don't have to struggle with them. In some ways, though, the puzzles almost start to feel like too much and they overwhelm the rest of the story and don't let the characters develop as fully as they might otherwise.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers has blended a cozy mystery that's quite unique along with found family, community, acceptance, love of all sorts, and well, puzzles. Told in two perspectives and timelines of both the young man in search of his beginnings and the woman who raised him.
Clayton receives a series of letters and packages after Pippa, the founder of The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers and woman that raised him dies. These mysterious clues provide him with a series of puzzles that will challenge his knowledge of puzzle solving and create an avenue of a life beyond the walls of the Fellowship.
A lovely cast of characters find their way into the commune of puzzlemakers and round out the story nicely. Each individual seeks a community in which to be accepted and loved and be an integral part of the success of the Fellowship.
An uplifting tale that will appeal to all but most especially to those that enjoy a good puzzle now and again.

4.25 stars

Thank you to Vintage Anchor for providing an early e-copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a really interesting book. The story was very well developed and brought you through many puzzles to solve. Even if you aren't into puzzles, this was such a great story about family and who you call family. There were so many aspects of this story that I will keep with me. Being open to new things and people. Sharing burdens with others. And understanding what family really means.
The one thing I found a bit annoying was the way the chapters went back and forth in time. I understand why it was done but for me, it broke up the flow of the story line.
Overall, this was a really engaging story with wonderful characters.
Enjoy!

This was exactly what the doctor ordered.

A charming, sentimental and sweet story that had me itching to maybe become a puzzle girl ( despite my complete lack of patience).

This is my first Samuel Burr and I look forward to reading many more.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is a charming tale of Pippa's bringing together some of the brightest minds in England to form a "fellowship" of creators of various puzzles and games. In a dual timeline-type storyline is the tale of her adoptive son, Clayton, and his search for his birth parents, through clues and puzzles Pippa left behind after her death. A truly enjoyable, highly recommended read!

A perfect feel-good story about finding yourself and belonging. Since the novel’s characters are all gifted puzzlemakers, there is one particular puzzle that leads the reader through the chapters. Beware—there may be many unfamiliar words to you sprinkled throughout! This is a good book to read on Kindle. The pacing is slow but appropriate to the story, characters are interesting, and the plot is fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and Anchor Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

This book will remain an enigma to me. I struggled to get through as much of the book as I did (I finally just gave up). I found this book slow and rather bland and felt no connection to the characters. I couldn't get interested in the storyline. This is a book you either love it or you don't - I guess I don't. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

WARNING: it's another unpopular opinion review!!

I have a weak spot for stories with older main characters and a found family trope, so I thought that The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers would be a perfect fit for me. I loved the sound of the premise, with the mystery around Clayton's birth parents, the idea of the fellowship and the puzzle element... And I fully expected to enjoy my time with this debut. Sadly, the complete opposite ended up being true, and I somehow I struggled considerably to make it to the end. I seem to be an outlier as most people seem to love this book, but I'll try to explain what did and didn't work for me in case I'm not the only one out there who couldn't quite connect to this story.

First of all, I have to say that I still love the premise of The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers and the general idea behind the plot and everything that happens. The fellowship and its members are so intriguing, and I enjoyed learning more about how the fellowship was formed and grew over time. The puzzle element was great as well, although I have to say the effect was kind of ruined as they didn't come out well at all in the kindle version. I suspect they would work so much better on paper though! I also do hope that the basic math errors that popped up will be edited out in the final version.

Now, where did it go wrong for me then? It was probably mostly the execution, and not the content of the story for me. First of all, the pace is extremely slow, and I struggled considerably to stay invested and convince myself to keep reading. I kept putting it down to do other things, and you know something is wrong when you rather start cleaning than read another chapter... The fact that the story constantly switches between past and present didn't really help either; dual timelines can go both ways for me in the first place, but in this case it was not the timelines, but the sheer amount of switches combined with the short chapters for me. It made it really hard to connect to the main characters, as I never felt I got to spend any proper quality time with them before I had to switch my brain to a completely different era.

As for the characters... Somehow I was never able to warm up to them. I mentioned the constant POV switches, but this wasn't the only issue for me. There is something almost distant about the way the story is told, and this distance made it hard to make a proper connection to the characters. I never felt invested in what was happening, and as a result I struggled to care about what was going to happen next. The mystery of Clayton's parentage was also a bit too simple, because there frankly aren't too many female characters to choose from in the first place... As a result, the final reveal wasn't all that satisfying to me.

I'm not saying that The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers is a bad read though, but it definitely wasn't the book for me. I somehow liked the idea behind this story a lot more than the actual execution... But then again, I seem to be in the minority, so don't give up on my account if you like the sound of this debut. Chances are high it will work better for you!

Reading this was like spending Sunday afternoon with your grandad at his retirement home. The writing was old-fashioned, the speech formal and from a different era. That’s OK though, as most of the characters were over 65. Even Clayton, the young man who goes on a journey of discovery, is an old man in manners, culture and attire.
Very little happens in this book, or that is how it seems. I will be honest, I skimmed a lot of the content. It felt like a good cull was still needed to make this sharper and to up the pace. There was just too much puzzle stuff in here for me too.
A nice concept, that with some more editing and a little more substance would be a good read.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.