The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page, Jessica Whittaker (Narrator)

Published February 28th 2022 by One More Chapter, HarperCollins UK Audio

About the Book: She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her…

Cleaner Janice knows that it is in people’s stories that you really get to know them. From recently-widowed Fiona and her son Adam; to opera-singing Geordie; and the awful Mrs ‘YeahYeahYeah’ and her fox terrier, Decius, Janice has a unique insight into the community around her.

When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties – she finally meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share.

Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?

5 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was so much more than I had expected, I absolutely loved it. Janice is a “cleaner” as well as a “Keeper of Stories”. Throughout her days, she sees and hears things that allows her to collect stories of other people. There is nothing malicious in this, but along the way she collects stories of humor, guilt, greed, narcissism, illness, love, caring and more. She keeps most of her stories to herself until she meets Mrs B. She is the mother/mother-in-law of another of her customers. She doesn’t want to clean for this shrewd, flamboyant woman, until she gets to know her. As Mrs. B shares stories with Janice, Janice shares her story in return. Janice suffers from a lack of confidence. After all, she’s ‘just a cleaner.’ How will finally sharing her story change Janice?

I really connected with Janice. I am an eavesdropper. I listen to conversations in coffee shops, waiting in line and shopping. I will add to what I hear to create a story, although Janice doesn’t do this. Besides Janice, there are so many other interesting characters such as a well travelled bus driver who Janice thinks must have been a geography teacher; a shrewd ninety-two year old ex-spy who shares her story and convinces Janice there is much to her, a young boy whose father committed suicide; an actor who becomes her friend and a pedigree fox terrier called Odysseus, Dysseus for short, who swears like a trooper and you will have to read this book to find our more about that. There are also some not so likable characters that you will meet. This story flowed so well, with Janice sharing stories with the listener and eventually with Mrs. B. There are so many great themes in this book such as emotional abuse, developing self-confidence, friendship, caring, relationships, families, guilt, and more. I loved getting to know Janice and definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy women’s fiction, up-lit and stories of self-discovery and friendship. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jessica Whittaker. I very much enjoyed her narration of this story, especially as she brought Janice’s inner voice to life. I will watch for more books narrated by this talented author.

About the Author: After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. Sally came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her younger daughter is the author, Libby Page. Both are keen wild swimmers.

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