Mrs. Saint and the Defectives

By Julie Lawson Timmer

There is so much to love about this book, and it began with the cover. It’s true, I always judge a book by its cover first because that’s the only thing I’ve got to go on. At first. But right away, the story swept me away. The funny little Mrs. Saint was presented through the eyes of her new neighbor, our heroine, Markie. And Markie does not love this woman at first blush.

I think my favorite thing about Mrs. Saint is her accent. And this was brilliantly presented not by trying to write French words in an Americanized way, but by having Mrs. Saint speak broken English in very funny broken sentences. One of my personal favorites was: “Killing the single bird with the identical bullet.” She has a serious misunderstanding of many American idioms. But as a result, we can almost hear her voice, massacring English in a very French accent. It’s brilliant. And endearing.

The story is fresh and fascinating and heart-rending and just plain good. And I laughed. The characters are so super quirky – all of them – that each could be the star of his/her own book. The defectives are indeed, defective in some area of their lives. And while Mrs. Saint was not practically perfect in every way, she sort of believed that she was.

The story is Markie’s personal story of loss, humiliation, and the reluctant rebuilding of her life. But it’s also about the power of someone who believes in you.

A funny, fascinating frolic that may also feel a little bit like a mirror. Worth your time. Worth your money. Worth the thoughts it might provoke.

Grab your copy from Amazon here.