Andrew Smith--a 42-year-old single man--has a name as nondescript as the quiet, solitary existence he endures in a rundown London flat. Andrew loves jazz--Ella Fitzgerald is his favorite--and he takes pride in his model train collection, which has held special significance since childhood. Andrew goes to work every day, but his social life is largely limited to the fellow train collectors he communicates with online via the "ModelTrainNuts" forum.
When Andrew was a boy, his father died, and his grief-stricken mother followed after Andrew was in college. Then, his older sister, a free spirit, took off for the States. Soon, as life continued to throw him heart-wrenching curve balls, there was "nobody for him to share the story with. No one to help him laugh his way through it. Loneliness... was ever vigilant, always there to slow-clap his every stumble."
After nearly two decades of working a lowly admin job for a small London borough, Andrew, in his late 30s, is laid off: "Ten years ago there had been a chance he might have considered a fresh start. Traveling, maybe, or a bold new career move. But these days just having to leave the house left him with an unspecific feeling of anxiety, so hiking to Machu Picchu or retraining as a lion tamer wasn't exactly on the cards."
Andrew finally lands a job interview with the council that deals with deaths covered under the Public Health Act. The agency handles funerals for people who die alone, living on the fringes without next-of-kin. During the interview, in making small talk with his prospective new employer, Andrew--in an effort to fit in and feel accepted--fibs and says that he shares a loving home with a wife and two children. He is offered the job, and, five years later, stories of his "fantasy family" have snowballed. This proves a major obstacle when Andrew's boss starts to have social gatherings for the staff outside of work and also when a woman named Peggy joins the team.
She is the antithesis of Andrew--open, warm and friendly. She has two children and an alcoholic significant other. When Peggy and Andrew partner at work, investigating the lives of deceased clients who died alone, a friendship sparks between them. As the two grow closer, the reality of Andrew's fantasy life imprisons him. How can he set the record straight without having the truth affect his job, his relationship with his co-workers and, most importantly, his deepening romantic feelings for Peggy?
Richard Roper's debut offers a lively blend of humor and earnest emotion. Andrew Smith is a winning--however bewildering--protagonist whose story will entertain readers with its offbeat charm. As Andrew slowly comes to grips with being his true self, without pretense, readers will not only empathize with him and the ratcheting implications of his predicament, but they'll also root for him to find liberation and love. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
Shelf Talker: A wry, humorous story about a lonely, single man in his 40s who is forced to come to grips with the truth of who he is and his past in order to face the future.