The Collected Regrets of Clover is the burst of hopefulness we need right now – a big-hearted and life-affirming novel that turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life!
In her work as a ‘death doula’, Clover Brooks ushers people peacefully through their last days, collecting their final words into three notebooks: ADVICE, CONFESSIONS and REGRETS. But Clover spends so much time with the dying that she’s forgotten how to live…
Can her clients’ hard-won wisdom – and the inspiring love story of a spirited old woman named Claudia – show Clover the way to a happy ending? After all, what’s the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can’t give yourself a beautiful life?
Every now and then, a novel comes along that gets all its elements just right: a unique and intriguing premise, a quirky cast of characters, a beautifully described setting (bonus points if it’s in New York City), and a moving life lesson that will live on in the hearts of its readers. You wonder how the author has done it. The Collected Regrets of Clover is one of those novels.
This sparkling debut novel from Australian Mikki Brammer reminds us all to live our best life with fewer regrets. Its premise is a delightful red herring – don’t expect to be weighed down by wallowing and despair, this is a wonderfully uplifting read about a woman who’s made a career in death.
Sure, death features, and Brammer doesn’t sugarcoat it. Loss sucks. Grief sucks. When you’re in it, it feels like it will never end… And maybe grief does stay with us forever – death is a condition of life, after all. But, as Brammer reminds us, life goes on for the living – and it’s actually pretty great.
Brammer’s warm prose gently guides us through the peaks and troughs of her characters’ lives (and deaths). Getting lost in Clover’s narration is an absolute delight; you feel as though you’re there with her, watching romcoms in her lonely apartment, or traipsing across New York to hold the hand of another client as they depart the land of the living. Clover’s inability to see her own value is infuriating at times, but she’s too endearing not to keep us rooting for her every step of the way, as she finally begins to come into her own.
I’m anticipating a lot of buzz once this life-affirming novel gets into the hands of readers – our Preview readers were totally enamored – and I’m hopeful this will only be the start for Brammer! This is a perfect, warm story to get lost in.
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