The Red Address Book

September 17, 2018
Lundberg’s sometimes overly sweet debut centers on a 96-year-old Swedish woman passing down her life story by remembering the names in her address book. Doris may be old, but she doesn’t want to be treated as such. However, when she ends up in the hospital after an accident, she must face her own mortality and desire for independence. Doris, who has lived a full and colorful life, wants to make sure her American granddaughter Jenny knows all about it before it’s too late. So she sets about writing the story of her life, framed by the names in her address book. One by one she goes through the entries and describes her life at the time she was associated with each person—modeling in Paris, then experiencing the horrors of WWII before moving to Sweden and marrying. While the present-day narrative is often cluttered with overly sentimental dialogue and hampered by an underwhelming account of Jenny’s travel woes as she tries to reach Doris, Doris’s life story is magnetic, and it’s her strong personality and pearls of wisdom (“Start cultivating your talents rather than going through life thinking you aren’t not good enough. In the end, that’s all that really matters. You’re never any more than your soul”) that drive the book. Both story lines become melodramatic during the neatly tied ending, but fans of Fredrik Backman will find much to like here.

October 15, 2018
Nearing the end of her days, 96-year-old Doris Alm turns the pages of her red address book, a gift from her father decades ago, lingering over names crossed through with the word "dead" etched in the margin.Impoverished at age 13 by her father's untimely death, Doris is sent by her mother to work as a maid for the glamorous Madame Serafin. Stunned to be thrust into the world so soon, Doris bravely embarks on the first of what will be many adventures in her life. As the third maid, Doris takes on the most unpleasant tasks, but she also meets the artist Gösta Nilsson, a man forced to hide his homosexuality even in bohemian Europe. Gösta and Doris become lifelong friends even as Doris travels with Madame to Paris, where she is sold off to Jean Ponsard and begins work as a living mannequin, modeling clothes in department stores and for magazine shoots. She meets the love of her life, Allan Smith, in the park one afternoon. A whirlwind romance ensues until suddenly Allan disappears, moving to the U.S. to care for his mother. Brokenhearted, Doris plunges into her work, which enables her to care for her younger sister, Agnes, after their mother dies, at least until war breaks out. Just as all hope seems lost, a battered, yellowed letter from Allan arrives with funds to take Doris and Agnes to America, where fresh calamities will keep them apart. In this, her debut novel, Swedish writer Lundberg has created a cast of warm characters, all conjured anew in the eyes of Doris' great-niece, Jenny, who's arrived to sit with Doris in her final days. Reading through Doris' book and hearing her stories, Jenny concocts a plan to reunite the star-crossed lovers.A charming, fragile romance.

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December 1, 2018

DEBUT Lundberg's first novel introduces 96-year-old Doris Alm, of Stockholm, Sweden, who recalls her many years on this Earth. Her lifelong belief is that, above all, love matters most. Reminiscing during her weekly Skype calls to her only living relative, her grandniece, Jenny, in San Francisco, Doris wants to be sure that Jenny, who had a difficult childhood, appreciates her approach to life and her significant relationships. As a young child, Doris was given a red address book by her beloved father, who died shortly thereafter. The book includes many details, about which Jenny is curious. When Doris's health falters, Jenny travels to Stockholm to be with her and learns of her great-aunt's many connections, bonds, and experiences during World War II: working as a living mannequin in 1930s Paris; being rescued at sea by a fisherman; laboring as a housekeeper in Sweden. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed Eleanor Brown's The Light of Paris or Nina George's The Little French Bistro will delight in seeing Doris's life unfold in this charming, tender tale.--Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA

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