Anne Marie Roche is a lonely widow following her husband Robert's death from a heart attack. Even though they were temporarily separated at the time, Anne Marie loved her husband. She longed for a child, but Robert had two grown children from a previous marriage and was adamant about having no more. Now living a lonely, empty life above her successful bookstore in Seattle, Blossom Street Books, Anne Marie strives for a purpose in life.
Anne Marie meets with several other widows to celebrate Valentine's Day. She proposes that they all make a list of "Twenty Wishes." Her #1 wish is to find one good thing about life. The women strive to accomplish everything on their lists, no matter how frivolous or unpractical they might be. In time, the 20 wishes are gradually realized, but not in the way Anne Marie and her friends expect.
This is a beautiful and tender story of everyday women, each with a desperate need for love and companionship, leaning on each other and allowing each to grow in finding a new purpose in life. I loved Debbie Macomber's ability to reveal the soul of her characters and to show that we need the strength of others in times of despair. Anne Marie finds that helping others is the way to fulfill her own happiness and gain purpose in her life.
Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At 38 her
life s not what she d expected--she s childless, a recent
widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle s
Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there s a
feeling of emptiness.
On Valentine s Day, Anne Marie and several other widows
get together to celebrate...what? Hope, possibility, the
future. They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things
they always wanted to do but never did.
Anne Marie s list starts with: Find one good thing about
life. It includes learning to knit, doing good for someone
else, falling in love again. She begins to act on her
wishes and when she volunteers at a local school, an eight-
year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It s a
relationship that becomes far more involving than Anne
Marie intended. It also becomes far more important than
she ever imagined.
As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty
wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true--but not
necessarily in the way you expect.
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