Review: The Spoon Stealer

You all know I love Genevieve Graham's books. So when she told me I had to read Lesley Crewe's The Spoon Stealer, well, I trusted her judgement. I'm so glad she recommended this historical fiction (written by another Canadian!) to me because I absolutely, completely, totally loved it.

Here's the synopsis:

Born into a basket of clean sheets—ruining a perfectly good load of laundry—Emmeline never quite fit in on her family's rural Nova Scotian farm. After suffering multiple losses in the First World War, her family became so heavy with grief, toxicity, and mental illness that Emmeline felt their weight smothering her. And so, she fled across the Atlantic and built her life in England. Now she is retired and living in a small coastal town with her best friend, Vera, an excellent conversationalist. Vera is also a small white dog, and so Emmeline is making an effort to talk to more humans. When she joins a memoir-writing course at the library, her classmates don't know what to make of her. Funny, loud, and with a riveting memoir, she charms the lot. As her past unfolds for her audience, friendships form, a bonus in a rather lonely life. She even shares with them her third-biggest secret: she has liberated hundreds of spoons over her lifetime—from the local library, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill. She is a compulsive spoon stealer.

When Emmeline unexpectedly inherits the farm she grew up on, she knows she needs to leave her new friends and go see the farm and what remains of her family one last time. She arrives like a tornado in their lives, an off-kilter Mary Poppins bossing everyone around and getting quite a lot wrong. But with her generosity and hard-earned wisdom, she gets an awful lot right too. A pinball ricocheting between people, offending and inspiring in equal measure, Emmeline, in her final years, believes that a spoonful—perhaps several spoonfuls—of kindness can set to rights the family so broken by loss and secrecy.

Oh, this book. It made my heart so full. Emmeline was such a joy to read about. Her storytelling (and therefore Crewe's) was so amazing and I really felt like I was following Emmeline around as she was reading her memoir and then traveling to Canada to meet her family. 

It did feel like a really long book, though it's just 360 pages. Normally I'm a remarkably fast reader but it took me awhile to finish this one. I think it's because Crewe adds in a lot of detail, plus I was so enthralled in the story and the way it was told that I may have been lingering over the words a bit longer than usual. That said, the beginning does drag ever so slightly but the set up pays off for the rest of the story. 

Do yourself a favour and read the author's note at the end, too. Crewe explains how the story came to be and what parts of it were inspired by her own family. I love hearing how novels come to life.

I hadn't really thought too much about how the book's description mentions Emmeline's spoon stealing was her third biggest secret. The other two secrets are big ones and they explain so much about Emmeline's life and how she's been living it. 

The Spoon Stealer is one of those novels that will burrow into your heart and stay there. It's also a really hard one to review because I don't want to give anything away and I just want to shove it into your hands and say, "READ IT!" I was close to tears as I reached the end of Lesley Crewe's latest novel. It's a well written, engaging story featuring a main character who is unique and completely lovable. You'll love every moment you spend with Emmeline.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Nimbus Publishing, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*