This was a super sweet and super simple book with great lessons. Easy to read, it’s full of 2 great main characters. I felt like I knew Eusebius and wish I knew him in real life. This book reminds me to stop and slow down and make time for what really matters in life… and it’s not always work. Many great life lessons can come from this simple story. This book was a treasure to read!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.

Simple, sweet and not too long, just two characters, one a stuffy bank manager and the other Eusebius, a man well travelled.

There is much to learn from this book, the main one being we must learn to stop and smell the roses.

I don't want to give too much away, just enjoy

Straight-laced bank manager (“the adamance of pragmatism always stood dumbly in my path”) meets philospher-psychagogue Eusebius Murray - lying in a puddle in front of his house.
During their subsequent random encounters, Murray’s subtly delivered message of decelerating, perceiving and appreciating, being spontaneous, contemplating and breaking a routine baffles and unsettles the bank manager but ultimately will influence his outlook on life.
To illustrate, here’s a paragraph of Murray’s Ode to October:
“Oh, tell me, thou great jolly friar, why this blazing forest fire? Why do you such effort spend To color nature at her end? How can a living soul despair When death itself doth look so fair?”
I read this book in one sitting, and then I read it again. Without the shadow of a doubt, it is my “Book of 2025”, if not years before and after, with its brevity and profoundness showing a very rare accomplishment indeed.

this was everything that was promised from the description and I was so engaged with the characters and enjoyed the overall package. The plot was engaging and worked in this universe and enjoyed how it was used in this genre. Joseph Damien has a strong writing style and left me wanting to read more.

powerful! I wish it was longer! aside from what seemed like a pro-life jab, I loved this and my only other critique would be to extend it, so I can/people can get more attached