An audio book.
When Liz (a teacher, 35) came home she saw her fiance and his personal trainer Pete having sex. She wants children. Her sister Nina has all that Liz ever wanted. When they were 10 and 3 their mother died. Their father was in a band. Liz decides to stay with Nina for a bit.
Zelda, 82, lives alone, tending to goats and chickens. The postman Marcellus talks to her.
Mira, 56, has 3 sons - Joel (a paramedic), Stewart and Dane. Her first husband John died when he was 25. Gideon, her second husband, has recently died. He was 56 and was a keen allotment owner. Mira meets Liz and Zelda by chance at the allotments.
Liz, Zelda and Mira belong to 3 generations yet they find they have things in common - Liz's recycling matches Zelda's ideas about waste. They compare and constrast their different griefs.
Liz decides to sell her share of the 4 bedroomed house she bought with her fiance, and rent a cottage that Zelda owns. In the loft that Joel helps her empty there's a chest. In the chest are love letters from Zelda's young fiance who died in a car accident when Zelda was pregnant. She lost the baby. She's kept quiet about the story for 50+ years and feels much better now it's out. They find her wedding dress. She wants to wear it at the end.
Mira and Zelda are threatened with eviction from their plots. They visit the allotment chairperson only to find that he has 3 baby triplets and is struggling. They offer help. He retracts his threat. They arrange a surprise birthday party at the allotment for Zelda. She has a heart attack. She comes home after 2 weeks. She's never going to be alone again. Her new friends have brought her joy and love. They popularize the allotment among the community. When Liz goes to at interview at the local school she suggests an allotment project. Liz and Joel eventually sleep together.
Very cosy and feel-good. Lots of repetition of insights from Liz in particular. The "heart" does lots of things.
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