A memorable story of love and jealousy set in a small village in Cornwall.
May is 110 years old and has the power of being able to harvest memories. Through out her life even as a small child she has collected other people’s belongings how ever trivial because of the buzz it gives her when she holds the object and digests the memories .
Seen by the villagers as slightly eccentric she is tolerated because of her age and the fact that she has always lived in the community.
Emily has come to the village to look after her elderly aunt who has recently been widowed and is perceived by her aunts neighbour Andy to be becoming very forgetful. Her aunt Julia lives a cross the road from May and although in the past they have been friends are no longer due to a past disagreement.
Set into the mix are the goings on a small village where everyone knows everyone’s business but also looks after everyone young or old and a few secrets and a mystery surrounding the loss of a valuable ring.
It is a real feel good book and lovers of Fern Britton’s books will love it.

I really loved this book - It drew me in from the beginning. I loved the characters and enjoyed the unravelling of the story. I would definitely recommend it. Very heartwarming. I didn't want it to end!

Thanks to NetGalley for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

May Rosevere, sits in her little cottage in Cornwall, contemplating having reached 110. She is awfully spry for someone her age and her goal is to reach 111. It's an important goal for her. May tells everyone she has lived this long thanks to buttered toast in the morning and some sherry in the evening.

May actually has a whopper of a secret. She is a memory thief. To keep her own mind and body young, she steals the memories left in objects of others.

There is some questions about her husbands death and affairs and the choices he made has her neighbor Julia, a recent widow, despising May. And then Julia begins to forget things. 

I didn't quite buy into the memory draining but the story as a whole was more about honesty, forgiveness and the power of love.

NetGalley/April 1st 2019 by HarperCollins

I was really looking forward to reading this book, as I do like a bit of magical realism, and 110 year old May sounded really intriguing.

I did enjoy it to start with, but a couple of the characters started to irritate me so I started struggling a bit. May keeps herself younger by harnessing other peoples memories, through old items and letters, but is finding it harder to keep going at the moment because she's more housebound, so there are less opportunities to steal other memories. Then her neighbour Julia, who has recently lost her husband, finds a large pile of old family letters and so May ends up helping her catalogue them, but really is just stealing the memories from them, but in the process also making Julia forget them and feel like she's losing her memory.

Emily is Julia's granddaughter who comes to visit from the USA after a call from Andy, another neighbour (widowed with a young daughter), who says Julia is getting a bit forgetful and may need checking on.

Some of the characters were more likeable, I really liked Tristan, but I just couldn't warm to a lot of the others, Emily and Andy especially. Then an animal died and that's a definite no-no for me in a book, so that just sort of sealed it for me and I skim read the rest. Just not for me really, it couldn't keep my attention, but a nice enough book that I'm sure a lot of other people will enjoy.

I had high hopes for this book but it didn’t really grab my attention and I found it quite slow.

May is 110 and keen to reach her 111th birthday and this is her story. The cast of characters are quite likeable and this whole story is an easy, lightweight, read.

If you are looking to while away a couple of hours with a pleasant story, this book will fit the bill nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy.

A unique story about 110 year old May Rosevere, and the other inhabitants of the close knit Cornish community of Pengelly. May has the ability to “harvest” others memories to fuel her longevity. No one has discovered her secret ability, but they are losing their own memories as May becomes greedy and steals too much if their own histories.
A good cast of characters and a beautiful setting enhance this enjoyable novel. Looking forward to sequel.
Many thanks to netgalley , the author p, and HarperCollins for an electronic arc. I would recommend.

This is a very light, sentimental novel which is dull and predictable. I read it up to 30% then skimmed the rest. It is a kind of chick-lit thing for older people. Three of the main characters are eighty or much older, and they act as though they are decades younger. The more youthful characters are forgettable. It is irritatingly told in the present tense and the so-called magic memory harvesting thing is a bit silly. I really should avoid books described as "heartwarming" or "feel good" because that means lightweight and sentimental and not my kind of thing at all.

Warm,feelgood story with great characters.Memory Lane would be a great place to live..Younglove,old love and a bit of a mystery.

What a truly delightful book! It is gentle easy reading but is never tedious and I found that I wanted to keep on reading and learning more about the well-rounded characters. The tale was never over-sentimental about the youngsters in the story, and never patronising about the older members of the community. Each person had their own story which gradually emerged and there were quite a few surprises along the way. Cecilia Anderson is an author I will look out for in the future as I really enjoyed this book.

What a great collection of characters! They were so well written that I felt a real connection with them. When they were popping in and out of each other’s home, I was there with them. The setting helped as well, right on the coast in the beautiful county of Cornwall. May was nearly 111 years old and had collected many memories, not all her own. I loved how the friends looked out for each other. There are several secrets that come to light by the end of the book. It also highlighted the serious problems of loneliness and dementia. But also that you are never too old to enjoy life to the full. I do hope that there is a sequel to this book. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I adored 59 Memory Lane. It’s a book that draws you in and immerses you into the escapades of 110 year old May Rosevere who has a secret that even her husband Charles didn’t know about. It’s set in a small seaside village with some great characters. It’s heartwarming, emotive and so descriptive you can almost feel the sand between your toes. Beautifully written, the story will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the chance to review.

Really enjoyed this book. May is a 110 year old lady, determined to make it to her 111th birthday by any means necessary. Even at the expense of her neighbour and friend Julia. That is until they strike up an unexpected friendship which brings to light some hidden family secrets.

A very unusual story. I would have liked a few more answers at the end, particularly over whether Julia's memories were restored, but hoping this will be answered in the sequel.

May Rosevere is 110 years old and puts it down to good living and the Cornish way of life. However, May has a secret and one she doesn't want to share.
The story weaves around several characters, each of which have their own stories, but are all intertwined.
You are easily drawn into the story and will be sorry when you reach the end!
Hope there is a sequel as would love to know what happens next!

May Rosevere is a 110 but doesn't look her age. Her secret to long life is that she can 'steal' the memories from objects that belong to other people.

Pengelly sounds such a lovely place to visit, reminding me of long summer holidays to Cornwall when I was little.

As the book goes along you want May to keep 'stealing' memories so she can reach the age 111! But you feel sorry for the people she takes from!

59 memory Lane is a delightful book and I loved the twist!
It's a perfect summer read with a hint of magic!

What a delightful book, I really loved this story. Set in Cornwall, with views of the sea, walks along beaches, and a great community of mixed and diverse characters Pengelly is somewhere I would love to live. May is a great character with a long held secret. I give this one of my rare five star ratings. With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this wonderful book.

Lovely read enjoyed the people the small town setting. A special read highly recommend .#netgalley #harpercollins uk.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really liked this book had such a lovely storyline and was so beautifully written. Would recommend.

Beautiful romantic read set in a small village beside the sea, very easy read with lovely characters

This book was very different from what I would normally read and I thought that the story was absolutely excellent and haven't hesitated to give it a 5 star review!

This book as I mentioned above was not the kind of story I would normally read and it was also nothing like that which I have read before.

I liked the whole thing very much and I thought it was a well written story which had a brilliant flow to it. The storyline was excellent and I thought that the characters were very well developed and worked really well together.

Five stars from me for this one, very highly recommended and a completely delightful story to read - I loved it!

Charming, romantic book, that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. Set in a small village beside the sea, it was easy to relax into reading this novel, and become involved in the story. Beautifully written. I will be recommending this book to everyone.