THE MUSEUM OF ORDINARY PEOPLE

A London woman finds secrets and more in an unusual British museum.

Jess Baxter has been having a rough year. She’s recently lost her beloved mother and has taken from her house a few bags of reminders: records, scarves, and a set of encyclopedias that her mother had given to her when she was 11 years old. There’s no room for the books at the apartment where Jess lives with her boyfriend, Guy, so she tries to donate them but finds no takers—until her friend Luce tells her about an odd place called the Museum of Ordinary People, located in the warehouse of a house clearance company. When Jess takes her encyclopedias there, she meets Alex, who has just inherited the company—he’s not sure why, as he never knew the late owner, and news of the museum, located in a locked section of the warehouse, comes as another surprise to him, with its “row upon row of rusting industrial shelving units, all of which are crammed, like some sort of crazy church jumble sale, with all manner of objects.” Alex, a web designer, is planning to sell the company, but Jess convinces him to let her redesign and redevelop the museum for at least a little while. Over the next few weeks, Jess gets to know Alex, who’s been living somewhat in isolation, self-conscious about the scars that cover half of his face, and the two spend time together working on the restoration, in the process uncovering a few secrets that hit close to home. This novel is pure, unadulterated feel-good, and Gayle is a master puller of heartstrings. It radiates an unforced kind of goodwill, which makes up for some of the overly expository dialogue and unabashed sentimentality. Cynics will find themselves rolling their eyes, but fans of uplifting-lit authors like Fredrik Backman will likely be suitably charmed.

Unrelentingly sweet pop fiction.