The Good Part

If you could magically skip ahead to the good part of your life, would you? Would you bypass the messiness we all have to go through to get there?

This is the question posited by Sophie Cousens’ newest book The Good Part. Lucy is 26 years old and full of creative ideas, working for a TV production studio where none of them are asked for or appreciated. Her best friend and roommate Zoya has just told her that she’s planning to move out of their rather sad London flatshare in search of greener pastures, and Lucy’s latest disastrous date has only furthered her belief that there aren’t any good guys out there to find.

Disillusioned and a little bit drunk one night, she escapes the rain and enters a small shop where a mysterious kindly old woman with a Scottish lilt sees Lucy eyeing the arcade style wishing machine at the back. Seeing Lucy’s state of discouragement, she offers her the penny and ten-pence piece she needs to make a wish.

Lucy’s wish? I wish I could skip to the good part, where my life is sorted. There’s a bit more to her wish, but that’s the gist. A few clinks of the machine and one pressed coin later that says YOUR WISH IS GRANTED, and Lucy wakes up to a whole new life - only she’s bypassed sixteen years of it! 

I don’t want to say too much about the new life she wakes up to and the havoc it wreaks for her and those around her to be missing sixteen years of memories, but I will say that it’s a fun, bittersweet and fascinating journey to experience with her! The most touching and sweet parts are watching her learn to interact with and fall in love with a husband and children she’s never known. I particularly adored her relationship with her son, Felix, whose lines are some of the best in the book, but her relationship with her husband Sam stole my heart too!

So here’s the conundrum, if one is inclined to be philosophical for a moment: you’ve now seen “the good part” you wanted. Do you give up the sixteen years you missed and continue in this new reality, hoping the memories you’ve missed come back, or do you go back and live the life you’ve missed, hoping it leads you back to this same place? 

My honest answer: I have no idea. I’m just glad I don’t have to make that decision!  What does Lucy choose? You’ll have to read and find out - I can only say it’s worth it to do so!  My one and only minor complaint is that I feel a little conflicted about the ending, but it was still good.

I adore Sophie Cousens’ writing, and this story embodies everything I love about it. There’s warmth and humor, but there are also moments of true melancholy, and I appreciate that I can experience a whole range of emotions in her books. I read this on my Kindle while listening to the audio, narrated so beautifully by Kerry Gilbert. The immersive experience was perfect!

The author’s note mentions the classic movies Big, The Family Man, 13 Going on 30, and Freaky Friday as inspirations for this book, and while you’ll certainly find the time switch elements of those, this is a story whose charms stand solely on their own. I highly recommend it!

★★★★ ½  

My thanks to Penguin Group Putnam,  G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NetGalley and author Sophie Cousens for the DRC to honestly review and to Libby/my local library for the audio. It’s now available.