After my first experience with a book by Maritime author Lesley Crewe (Amazing Grace), I would never have willingly chosen to read another book, but The Spoon Stealer was selected for my book club and so my options were to either suck it up and read it or just not bother. I sucked it up.

Emmeline Darling is a senior living alone with her dog, Vera, in England. She joins a memoir writing workshop at her local library and she begins to share her life story with the other ladies in the group, several of whom become her fast friends. Her memoir begins on a summer morning in Nova Scotia in 1894 when Emmeline’s mother was hanging out a line of clothes and Emmeline arrives suddenly, dropping “into a basket full of freshly laundered linen.”

The ladies in the memoir group, with the exception of the workshop leader, become fast friends and continue to meet after the workshop ends because they are so invested in Emmeline’s story. And it’s quite a tale.

Two of Emmeline’s older brothers had gone off to fight in the Great War and when Teddy, her favourite, ends up in hospital in England, Emmeline races to his side. That’s how she comes to spend the majority of her life in England.

As with any life, Emmeline’s is full of joy and heartache. She makes friends along the way; she experiences extreme luck and devastating loss. She is a ‘character’ – stealing hearts and spoons wherever she goes. Oh, and Vera talks – but just to her, of course, because that would be ridiculous, right?

I had an easier time with The Spoon Stealer than I did with Amazing Grace. I’m not sure that this is actually high praise or not because I still had a lot of problems with this one. For one thing, people do not talk the way they do in this book. And relationships aren’t magically repaired after decades of estrangement, which is what happens when Emmeline’s brother, Martin, dies and leaves her the family farm even though they haven’t spoken in years and years (and years). In fact, Emmeline hasn’t spoken to any of her remaining family for ages, but when she returns to Nova Scotia it’s poof! magic. The dialogue between the characters often serves as exposition/character development and, for me at least, it wasn’t believable.

There was at least one eye-rolling character twist and a tug-at-your-heart-strings ending that felt manipulative. And also – talking dog. 😦

I know people love this author, but she just isn’t my cup of tea.