The Lost Ticket
Fiction
Penguin
August 30, 2022
Paperback
369
Purchased
When Libby Nicholls arrives in London, brokenhearted and with her life in tatters, the first person she meets on the bus is elderly Frank. He tells her about the time in 1962 that he met a girl on the number 88 bus with beautiful red hair just like hers. They made plans for a date at the National Gallery art museum, but Frank lost the bus ticket with her number on it. For the past sixty years, he’s ridden the same bus trying to find her, but with no luck.
Libby is inspired to action and, with the help of an unlikely companion, she papers the bus route with posters advertising their search. Libby begins to open her guarded heart to new friendships and a budding romance, as her tightly controlled world expands. But with Frank’s dementia progressing quickly, their chance of finding the girl on the 88 bus is slipping away.
More than anything, Libby wants Frank to see his lost love one more time. But their quest also shows Libby just how important it is to embrace her own chances for happiness—before it’s too late—in a beautifully uplifting novel about how a shared common experience among strangers can transform lives in the most marvelous ways.
My review:
I am very picky about my romance books. They have to have substance to them, preferably topics more important than the romance part. This one fit the bill nicely, and it certainly didn't hurt that one of the main protagonists was a little old man (a definite buzz word for me). Talk about a romance, this man has been riding a London bus for sixty years to find the girl who got away. Enter into the picture two unlikely heroes who try to help Frank find his long lost girl, who also may develop feelings for each other along the way (sort of a subset romance which fits my description above). I just loved all the characters in this one! The idea for the plot was a brilliant one, and of course I love books set in London (I listened to this one, and give me a narrator with an English accent any day!). Without giving anything away, I was also super impressed with the ending. Everything was not done up in a nice bow as is often the case with romances I'm not as enamored with.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a clever plot, great characters (did I mention the little old man?), and just such a sweet story of strangers helping strangers. This one was such a breath of fresh air!
