I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for the utterly beautiful The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle. Thank you to Jenny Platt and Hodder Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.
About the book:
Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she’s ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold.
But when in the process Jess stumbles across the mysterious Alex, together they become custodians of a strange archive of letters, photographs, curios and collections known as The Museum of Ordinary People.
As they begin to delve into the history of the objects in their care, Alex and Jess not only unravel heartbreaking stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long buried secrets that lie much closer to home.
Inspired by a box of mementos found abandoned in a skip following a house clearance, The Museum of Ordinary People is a thought-provoking and poignant story of memory, grief, loss and the things we leave behind.
About the author:
Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a Features Editor and agony uncle. He has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, the Guardian and Cosmopolitan.
Mike became a full time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by the Independent as ‘Full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations,’ and by The Times as ‘A funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic’. Since then he has written sixteen novels including Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty and The Man I Think I Know. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages.
He lives in Birmingham with his wife, kids and greyhound.
You can find him online at mikegayle.co.uk and on Twitter @mikegayle.
My Review:
The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle is an extraordinarily beautiful read that will stay with me for a long time to come. A thought provoking and poignant story, it is a beautiful tale of love, loss, memory and the things we leave behind.
In the process of emptying her childhood home after the sudden and devastating death of her mother, Jess realises that there are some things that mean far too much to her to ever be able to throw them away. With nowhere to keep them in the modest home she shares with her boyfriend, the search for a solution leads her to the mysterious Alex and his Museum of Ordinary Things. So when an opportunity arises for her to take on her dream job as a museum curator, a job she thought had slipped out of her grasp a long time ago, Jess takes the biggest risk of her life and jumps at the chance.
Together Jess and Alex begin to delve into the history behind the objects in their care. Objects that once meant the world to someone: from the old armchair that belonged to a much loved grandad to a violin that Jess feels has a story to tell. But as they begin to unravel the heartbreaking stories of ordinary people, they also begin to reveal long buried secrets that are much closer to home…
I adored this book from the very first page. I have a fascination with family history and the objects, pictures and memories people leave behind, so The Museum of Ordinary People spoke to me on a personal level, touching my heart and making me feel so many different emotions as I lost myself within its pages. Jess and Alex are characters I couldn’t help but fall in love with, both of them lost in their own way, with The Museum of Ordinary People connecting them in ways they never would have thought possible.
The Museum of Ordinary People is a pure delight from beginning to end. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. It will at times break your heart, but will also make it soar higher than the sky. Mike Gayle’s writing is so beautiful and full of heart, taking you on a simply unforgettable journey that will stay with you long after the final page has been turned. A very real and human story, with larger than life characters who you can’t help but fall in love with, I honestly felt bereft as I turned the final page.
What can I say? Mike Gayle has done it again. I absolutely adored this book! Easily one of my favourite read of the year. Pure perfection from beginning to end.
Highly recommended.
The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle is available to purchase now:
Check out what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 