A warm, intimate novel that reminds us of the richness that can be found all throughout our lives.
As 92-year old “Flo” Green writes a long letter to Ruthie, the woman who, as a little girl, lived next door to Flo, she thinks, This is an autobiography in things. And this letter will transform her—and those around her—in ways she couldn’t even imagine.
Flo is nearing the end of her life, and she wants to leave her house and all of her belongings to Ruthie, with whom she still enjoys a close relationship. Through Flo’s stories about the possessions in her home, we see the life she has lived, and are reminded of the surprising value of “little” things. (What could possibly be the worth of a rubber band kept in a matchbox tied up in red ribbon?) Flo also encourages Ruthie to reconsider her impending divorce by sharing a startling, long-buried secret about Flo’s own perfect-seeming marriage.
As Flo reflects on her life, she takes herself up on tiny dares: she’s never had a mani-pedi, for example, and as long as she’s going to the beauty parlor, she might as well get a blue streak put in her hair. She makes new friends and tries to help them find the fulfillment that only a full life has led her to understand.