Some books try their best to sell readers on an extraordinary plot, twists and all. Libby Page goes with the ordinary one instead, at least in my view as a long time reader. This Book Made Me Think of You has a simple premise, maybe even a little predictable if you’ve read enough of this genre. Surprisingly, I never once felt bored while reading it. I was drawn into characters and a story so comforting I sank right into them.

This Book Made Me Think of You is a story of Tilly, a young widow who gets a call from Book Lane, a local indie bookshop in London, telling her she has a book to pick up every month. Turns out her late husband, Joe, arranged for her to receive one specially chosen book every month for a whole year, each one picked out before he died. I was hooked, wondering what she’d get next and why he’d chosen it.

The reason behind the gift is touching. Since Joe’s diagnosis, Tilly had stopped reading altogether, grief has a way of taking even the things we love. So in one final act of love, Joe put together this year of books to nudge her back toward living, and maybe toward trying things she never would have on her own. Each one arrives with a handwritten letter explaining why he picked it, which is such a small detail but genuinely got me a little emotional every time the book comes to this part of story. Joe himself wasn’t even a reader. He built this whole gift around someone else’s love, not his own, and that says more about him than any grand gesture could.

As Tilly keeps returning to the shop, she builds a warm, easy friendship with Alfie, the owner, and the books Joe chose start leading her toward people and places she’d never have found otherwise. Watching her world slowly open back up is one of the best parts of the book. I felt an immediate connection to Tilly too, especially in the moment she recommends a Fredrik Backman book, he’s one of my favorite authors.

This is a book for people who love books. It’s about grief and a celebration of reading and how the right story at the right time can pull someone back to life. Page clearly understands grief and she translates that understanding into fiction without it ever feeling forced or preachy.

On top of everything else, it doubles as a built-in reading list. It’s equally comforting and emotional.This Book Made Me Think of You

My Favorite Bits

• The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.

• Tilly always thought of bookshops as a gathering place: all these books lined up neatly on the shelves like potential friends she just hasn’t met yet.

• There’s a darkness to her that wasn’t there before, that sometimes feels like a fog and at other times like a stone lodged in her chest. she carries the darkness with her everywhere, all the time, even if on the surface she might look the same as before.

• “But isn’t that one of the great things about fiction?” he says. “It’s an escape. Somewhere to go when you don’t want to be where you are.”

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Author: Libby Page
Publication date: 3 February 2026
Number of pages: 407 pages

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