Review: The Restoration of Celia Fairchild by Marie Bostwick

Title: The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

Author: Marie Bostwick

Published: March 2021, William Morrow Paperbacks

Format: ARC Paperback, 416 pages

Source: UplitReads

Summary: 

“The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is wise, witty, and utterly compelling.” —Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Friends We Keep

Evvie Drake Starts Over meets The Friday Night Knitting Club in this wise and witty novel about a fired advice columnist who discovers lost and found family members in Charleston, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Second Sister.

Celia
Fairchild, known as advice columnist ‘Dear Calpurnia’, has insight into
everybody’s problems — except her own. Still bruised by the end of a
marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family, Celia
receives an unexpected answer to a “Dear Birthmother” letter. Celia
throws herself into proving she’s a perfect adoptive mother material —
with a stable home and income — only to lose her job. Her one option:
sell the Charleston house left to her by her recently departed,
estranged Aunt Calpurnia.

Arriving in Charleston, Celia learns
that Calpurnia had become a hoarder, the house is a wreck, and selling
it will require a drastic, rapid makeover. The task of renovation seems
overwhelming and risky. But with the help of new neighbors, old friends,
and an unlikely sisterhood of strong, creative women who need her as
much as she needs them, Celia knits together the truth about her
estranged family — and about herself.

The Restoration of Celia Fairchild
is an unforgettable novel of secrets revealed, laughter released,
creativity rediscovered, and waves of wisdom by a writer Robyn Carr
calls “my go-to author for feel-good novels.”

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Marie Bostwick and I really enjoyed it. It is a feel-good story full of charm and wit.

This book absolutely took hold of my heart. It is all about family and community and how sometimes it takes courage and a lot of work to start over. Life isn’t always rainbows and sunshine, there are many storms along the way. But it’s what you decide to do in the face of those storms that can make all the difference.

I loved the quirky characters that make up this book. They are all so real and relatable on some level. Each one plays an important part in Celia’s life, yet they also have their own struggles that on their own they can’t seem to work out, but together are able to work out a plan to fix. I loved how Celia ended up with this group of supportive friends that had her back and kept pushing her even when she wanted to give up.

This book is all about resilience and the idea that family isn’t always made up of those related by blood. Life doesn’t always go as planned…but with a little help from our friends, we can definitely turn things around.