#BlogTour ‘Geraldine Verne’s Red Suitcase’ by Jane Riley

About the book…

His dying wish was to set her free. So why does she feel so trapped?

Jack had two dying wishes: that his wife scatter his ashes somewhere ‘exotic’, and that she not give up on life once he was gone. He intended to spur her on to new adventures, but despite clinging to her red suitcase, Geraldine Verne hasn’t left the house for three months.

It takes an accident for Geri to accept help from her friends, but when Meals on Wheels arrive she is mortified. Yet heartbroken volunteer Lottie brings with her more than cottage pie and custard. Like Geri, she too is struggling to cut loose.

As a gloriously unlikely friendship blossoms, Geraldine begins to feel a long-lost spark of life and a newfound confidence. Perhaps what both women needed most, after all, was each other.

My thanks to the wonderful Rhiannon at FMCM Associates for the blogtour invite, and gifted review copy, of ‘Geraldine Verne’s Red Suitcase’, published by Lake Union Books on June 29th in paperback, e-book and audiobook formats!

Huge thanks and the hugest apologies to the author, and publishers, and Rhiannon for this delayed review, this year has not been a kind one and it has led to being behind on some things and weeks ahead in others, and this can be incredibly disorientating!
Anyway, the important thing is this wonderfully moving book, which invites you in to become part of Geraldine’s grieving process after the loss of her husband of 50 years, Jack.

As her neighbours, friends and ex-work colleagues circulate with offers of help and support, Geri withdraws and retreats into a world where there is only herself and Jack, and some treasured memories all zipped inside his red wheeled suitcase.

The suitcase is , in my humble opinion, a wheeled allegory of Geri’s grief stricken heart, her weight that she travels around with as she cannot begin to let go of someone who was in her life more than he was not.

You feel the wrench and pull of her love as she goes back over her life with Jack, in between friends such as Len ‘interfering’ (i.e helping) by organising Meals On Wheels for her whilst he has gone on holiday with his new girlfriend, Crystal. And in the deliveries of food she doesn’t want to eat, the intrusions into her private space that she does not welcome, something extraordinary begins to happen….like her and Jack’s much loved butterflies, she begins to come out of her cocoon.

From her doorstep , to further beyond, she takes tentative steps to begin to live again, firstly because it was her husband’s last wish (he has left envelopes around the house for her , a treasure hunt based on their combined love of anagrams and puzzles).

Guilt, anger, and loss all mingle as Geri cannot imagine going forth into a world where Jack both is, and isn’t-she takes him everywhere in his red case and her friends are unendingly patient and kind with her whilst she learns to embrace the loss and learn to live again.

There is so much to love in here, from Geri’s conversations with Jackie-boy, her observations on her neighbours and the sweetness of her love for life, from the moment Jack asked her for the correct library shelf for butterflies, to his very last breath, the whole of the rainbow spectrum of love is caught here, within these pages, like one of the exhibits in their Butterfly Room.

About the author…

”I was born and raised in New Zealand. After graduating from Auckland University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in French and English literature, I headed to Europe to practise my French, got waylaid in Germany and ended up in Australia.

I have had a varied career in public relations, publishing, freelancing as a writer and editor, and launching an online e-commerce business, which involved writing a design blog interviewing makers and creators. When The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock was published, I achieved my dream of becoming a full-time author.

I live in Sydney with my husband, an energetic but scared-of-heights Australian cattle dog-staffy cross, and two daughters old enough to not be living at home anymore. I volunteer as an English language tutor for the Adult Migrant English Program, am learning the piano and teaching myself Italian.”

Links-https://www.janerileyauthor.com/

Twitter @JaneRileyAuthor