This is a nice mix of romance and general story.
Unfortunately it is very slow in places, but overall quite enjoyable.

A charming tale of an unlikely friendship which develops between 94 year old Baxter, living in a retirement home, and 18 year old Greg who works there as a carer. Each has suffered the loss of a loved one, and their developing friendship blossoms when Baxter persuades Greg to accompany him to France. It's heartwarming to see Greg blooming in confidence, away from his uncaring father, and I enjoyed this.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

Baxter’s Requiem piqued my interest with its cross-generational friendship and an elderly hero unwilling to give up on life just yet. I’m quite partial to both of these in fiction as much as in real life.

I have to admit that it took me a little while to warm to Baxter, simply because while he is chafing away at being in the home, he is loud and rambunctious. I liked him a whole lot better, as I learned more of his backstory, which I found incredibly touching. I admired his attitude towards life and that he wanted to use what was left of his to help others. He is a remarkable character.

Greg is much easier to empathise with from the outset. He’s starting a new job, has a difficult home life with little hope of support or even sympathy there, and no friends to speak of since having left school. He’s withdrawn from the world but despite this, he’s funny, observant, resourceful, and clearly not stupid.

Among the supporting characters, special mentions go to Winnifred who is a wild and wonderful woman, especially on her mobility scooter; the home receptionist Ramila who chivvies Greg into a friendship before he realises it; and Susanne, the manager of the home, who has a bark worse than her bite but still sees her charges and staff as people first. She’s surprisingly good at reading people and allowing them the space or time they need. Even Teddy, Greg’s dad, has a late rally and leaves room for hope that there’s a more positive future in store for father and son.

Peggy, Michael and Thomas all exert a powerful influence over Baxter’s Requiem despite already being dead by the time the book opens. From the tenderness with which Matthew Crow tells their stories, I couldn’t help but also mourn their loss while starting to understand what they meant to those left behind. Reading was a bittersweet experience and Thomas’ story especially broke me. Which left me with nothing but anger and pure venom directed at two minor characters and what they represented at this time.

Greg and Mr Baxter’s friendship may be the one that’s at the heart of this story but, by the end of Matthew Crow’s book, there are others in evidence. And it's those different age groups socialising, interacting and even working together in Baxter’s Requiem that ultimately left me feeling optimistic. Hopeful that what was once hidden and feared, even persecuted, would now be openly celebrated and free.

Told with genuine warmth and humour, Baxter’s Requiem is a moving story of friendship, family (be it biological or nurtured), loss, love and, above all, kindness which packs a real emotional punch.

A warm story about love, loss and finding your way back.

Greg's brother has committed suicide. He's given up on life now, ending up in a care home job, living with his subsisting father and grieving. One bright spark in his life is the nonagenarian Baxter, a former music teacher and distinctly sharp resident keen to both help the young man and put to rest a grieving from his own past.

We weave in and out of the present as Baxter's history is presented to us, and see its effect on Greg as he uses Baxter's narrative to help him understand his brother's actions. I enjoyed Greg's segments but found the wartime Baxter rather moving, and there is a good feel for the period and atmosphere. There are two rather determined women as well, not allowing Baxter to take all the best lines and humour.

I did find I wanted more of the Thomas storyline, to have some sort of resolution as to what happened to two other characters in this arc. It didn't feel complete.

Ultimately uplifting, it's a bittersweet story about living on.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-reading copy.

Baxter's Requiem has a great premise in that a residential care home is fertile ground for amusing stories as well as sad ones. Baxter is certainly a larger than life character and nicely balanced by the world weary Greg. They make for a formidable pair. For me there were definite shades of The hundred year man who climbed out of the window in its humour and there were several passages of real pathos, especially in the descriptions of Baxter's relationship with Thomas and its illicit nature given the timeframe. There was some beautiful prose, especially when describing nature, but I found this slightly jarred against the vernacular used in some of the care home dialogue. There were, for me, too many secondary characters in this book and they could have benefitted from being fleshed out. I didn't really enjoy the social media input as it detracted from the ultimate pathos of Baxter's mission. Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for this e-book copy.

This is such a wonderful story. I remember whist reading it that I thought there really wasn't too much going on but, by the time I finished it and sat back and pondered on what I had just read, I realised that there was so much more to the story than on face value.
Baxter has been pretty much forced into moving into a home. He is not really happy with this decision and initially tries to push boundaries as he rocks the boat. But then he gets to know one of the employees, Greg, a young man who is floundering a bit in his own life. They realise that they have one key thing in common; the loss of a loved one and appear to bond over this. With Baxter not too much longer for the world, there is something he needs to do and needs Greg's help to do it, and hopefully, maybe, help Greg along the way.
I took to the two main characters right from the off. They both tugged at my heart-strings more and more as I got to know them better. Baxter's backstory was especially poignant for many reasons and had me smiling and crying in equal measure as more was revealed. Greg's story is only just beginning but, like us all, he needs a bit of guidance and as his friendship with Baxter grows, he appears to have found his source.
What really gripped me about this book, what impressed me the most is the way it was told. It was simply told as it was, with no agenda that I could see, just pure, beautiful storytelling. It was a very emotional read for me, probably for that reason. I also really gelled with the author's style from the off, the book pretty much reading itself to me with no effort really required.
Being a new author to me, obviously I went to see what else he has written and was delighted to find a whole back catalogue to check out further. The fact that they appear to be YA does not deter me as I have read some cracking YA books before. It also got me thinking that maybe one of the reasons I loved this book so much was that as I was reading it, it reminded me a little of Matthew Quick in characterisation and style. Quick is another author who writes cracking YA books and who also happens to be my favourite author.
All in all, a delightful read that held my attention nicely throughout and left me satisfied, albeit a bit emotionally spent, at the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is a feel good story even though it had sad undertones. The characters are all likeable and well drawn and the writing sublime.

My one regret is that it wasn't long enough, I didn't want it to end and when it did I felt like I was saying goodbye to new found friends.

Highly recommended!

What a fabulous book, I really enjoyed it! The story of 94 year old Baxter and his young friend Greg, who have both suffered terrible loss in their lives. Baxter enlists Greg to help him escape his care home and go on a road trip to France to say goodbye to his lost love Thomas for the final time.
This book was heartbreakingly sad at times, but the humour throughout was a brilliant contrast and helped really make the story come to life. The friendship between the two men was a joy and I loved the other characters, Suzanne and Ramilla who worked in the care home, and his oldest and best friend Winnie who was his partner in crime and drinking pal, they were all wonderfully drawn and really added to the story.
This book is life affirming, joyous, hilarious and also tragic at times, it is a story which will stay with me for a long time and I would thoroughly recommend it.

This is a lovely feel-good story about an elderly gentleman, Baxter, nearing the end of his life, and a young lad, Greg, just embarking on his. Each has suffered the painful loss of a much loved person, who died well before their time. For Baxter, it was the love of his life, who died during WWII. For Greg it was his younger brother, who committed suicide.
They meet at the Melrose Gardens Retirement home, where Baxter is a rather unwilling inmate (‘It’s like practising being dead and paying for the privilege!’), and Greg is trying hard to cope with his first ever job, as a care assistant.
Right at the start, Baxter is informed by his doctor that he is unlikely to last another year. At 94 years of age, Baxter is unperturbed by impending death, but there are two missions he sets himself to accomplish before his demise: first is to go to France and finally say goodbye to his lover, to ensure that he is never forgotten; second is to save Greg from the overwhelming grief, that threatens to blight his young life forever.
Baxter’s romance was so beautifully captured, and it was plain to see what a traumatic effect the loss of his love had on Baxter’s subsequent life. Luckily, he had two very good friends to help him cope. Now, he wants to offer the same help to Greg – to show him that life can still be joyful, and not be just a dreary existence.
Greg’s pain is obvious, not only to Baxter, but to both of his co-workers, Suzanne and Ramila: “That Greg was troubled was self-evident. His body and his mind operated on two separate planes – as if he were trying to navigate his own avatar with a faulty joystick”. Greg gets no respite at home, where his father is incapable of dealing with either his own grief – or that of his son. Currently, work is the only solace for both Greg and his father.
Baxter’s plan to help Greg get off to a rocky start: “‘My ship’s sailed,’ Greg said flatly. ‘You’re eighteen years old,’ said Baxter with an exhausted smile. ‘Your ship hasn’t even been built yet’.” But with help from Suzanne’s friendly ear and Ramila’s flirting – not to mention the incorrigible Winnifred (one of Baxter’s dissolute elderly friends) – Greg slowly emerges from his shell.
I loved this book. All the main and secondary characters are well developed, each with their own back stories, so that they quickly become real people, with whom you can empathise, and most of whom you would like to meet. You become fully invested in all of them, and need to know how their lives turn out. I particularly liked Ramila, who is nowhere near as shallow as she likes to make out. I highly recommend this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - so moving and funny in equal measure. The story of the late life adventures of Baxter and his new young friend Greg kept me turning pages as we learned of the past of both these men and joined with them as they dealt with their experiences in order to live in the present and step forward into the future.

This is not another quirky old person defies the rules book, it's a joy, a lesson for living, utterly delightful and yes, I have an unexpected tear in my eye. Baxter, 94 and in a nursing home, and Gregory, 19 and mired in grief, form an unlikely bond and they go on a trip that opens up Gregory's life and enables closure for Baxter. All the characters in this thoughtful, funny tale are well-developed and the steps back in time to Baxter's tender romance with Thomas are beautifully told. Bravo.

I'm really pleased to have met this book. It is brilliant. It has two very loveable main characters (although you wouldn't think so at first sight), and a host of colourful and equally loveable supporting characters.
Mr Baxter looked an old curmudgeon when I first saw him. But later I warmed towards him.
He is haunted by the memories of a great love and great loss from his past and before he dies he wants to have closure.
Greg who accompanies him also had to endure a great loss and now feels himself in a sort of limbo because of his grief.
A very unlikely sort of friendship forms between them that is heatwarming to watch unfold.
The book also very tastefully deals with a sensitive subject - the love of Mr Baxter's life was a man, and Greg's brother also suffered because he was taunted for being gay.
The storyline alternates between the past and the present and it ends in a sort of cliffhanger, but with Greg we can hope that something better is coming.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was sorry to see it end. I will definitely look out for the works of this author.

Some books just speak to you, some books just make you look at the world with a more positive outlook. Matthew Crow has written an utterly charming story of finding hope in loss, of finding friendship in unlikely places, and of escaping the life we perhaps feel we are forced to live.

94-year old Mr Baxter, resident of the Melrose Gardens Retirement Home, has one last thing he needs to do in his life. The Home is populated by a suitably eccentric cast of characters, and Baxter finds connection with one of the part-time staff, Greg Cullock, a young man carrying a burden of grief with which Baxter can connect. Together they embark on a trip to France – evading the clutches of care home manager Suzanne – to find closure for Baxter, as he prepares to make an emotional journey to say goodbye at a war memorial to his lost love Thomas, missing in action from the war.

Yes, this is a well-trodden path for books (and films): cross-generational friendship, a journey to find peace, lost love. But Crow writes with such a vitality that, through the tears, you can’t help but laugh and take sheer joy in the life-affirming tale as it unfolds. That is not to say that there is not sadness – there is, in bucket-loads. There is such injustice in what happens to Thomas – revealed to us as readers but not, tellingly, to Baxter – and Greg’s burden in having to cope with the suicide of his younger brother is hard to read. However, as the characters find their own peace and some sort of resolution in the quiet of the war memorials of France, you can’t help but feel the life-force that the novel emits: ‘Live your life, live it bravely and beautifully. That is the greatest tribute you can pay to all those who could not.’

It’s the kind of book that you need when life is a bit grey and getting you down. It will make you cry and laugh, and hopefully leave you with a smile on your face. I definitely recommend it.

(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.)

Beautiful, touching, heart-rending and uplifting story about love, loss and friendship. If you think you have read enough about plucky old people in a nursing home; you are wrong. This tale is wonderfully written with deftly engaging characters that feel like friends. I would love a sequel please. This is a genuine five star read and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I would like to thank Little, Brown and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Baxter’s Requiem’ by Matthew Crow in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Mr Baxter is ninety-four years old and a resident at the Melrose Gardens Retirement Home. He befriends nineteen-year-old care assistant Greg who Baxter sees parts of himself in as they’ve both suffered the loss of a loved one. Baxter lost his lover Thomas who went to war and never came back and Greg his younger brother Michael who committed suicide. When Baxter is told by his doctor he has a limited time left he asks Greg to accompany him on a trip to Paris to say his farewells to Thomas, unknown to Suzanne the manager of the Home who hasn’t given them permission, and receptionist Ramila who counts both the curmudgeonly Baxter and Greg as friends.
‘Baxter’s Requiem’ is a story of true love, written simply with compassion and thoughtfulness. The many characters have been brought to life with imagination, especially that of Greg who’s described by Baxter as having a ‘rough mouth and kind heart’. The sexual orientation of Baxter and Thomas is touched on with compassion as when they were young men in 1940s homosexuality was illegal. I thought the flashback where Thomas’s belongings were stolen and his confrontation with the General to be extremely sad, and Baxter and Greg’s return home to a tumultuous welcome heart-warming. When I started reading I thought the novel very similar to another where an elderly man lives in a retirement home but that’s where the similarities ended as this novel is unique with a story of its own. I’d like to read more about the characters at the Melrose Gardens Retirement Home, especially Greg who has benefited from his trip with Baxter, and I do hope there’ll be a sequel.

Melrose Gardens Retirement Home houses a varied mixture of residents and staff. Two newcomers, Baxter, a 94 year old forthright and assured gentleman, and Gregory, a 19 year carer with the weight of his brother on his shoulders meet and form an unlikely alliance..

When Baxter encourages Gregory to take him to France secrets unfold but life is to be celebrated isn’t it?

An endearing read which would have kept me enthralled for another 200 pages.

Spoiler is this review.

Some of this is wonderfully written, sharp and witty and poignant in places but towards the end I became cynical - partly about how the secrecy of the central love story was taken away from Baxter without his knowledge or consent and made public on Twitter as if internet 'fame' was an honourable gift rather than a somewhat tawdry sideshow, for a 94 year old man who had chosen to keep his life private for more than half a century. I was also sceptical that, despite the horrible bigotry against homosexuality in the past, an army general would summarily shoot a soldier in the back after finding out he was gay, rather than following the (admittedly equally deadly) protocols which would leave his own hands 'clean'.

I liked the setting of the book, the characters were diverse and real and interesting - if anything the novel was ttoo brief to flesh them out fully and I can see this becoming a movie as it's so visual.

This first appeared as if it would be a gentle but pleasant read about friendship across the generations and on this basis alone, I looked forward to reading it. However, this book was so much more than that. You really do take the key characters straight into your heart; each one is so relatable and each have their own little quirks of character that make them undeniably endearing. The relationships are beautifully portrayed and tell us a lot about how people need and respond to other people even when they most want to turn away from them.
This book also makes us reflect both on how far and sometimes how little we have moved on in really embracing and celebrating people as who they are without trying to make them fit the mould. We need more than lip service!
In some ways, since I really warmed to the characters, I wanted a little more development from both the past and present stories that are shared across the book as I felt there was more to tell but maybe I was just being greedy because I loved them. An utterly charming book.