This book is filled with imagery beautifully painted. It is filled with song, the harmonies and accompaniments to a melody in the key of life. These feelings can usually only be found in heart stirring poetry, yet they are found throughout this moving story written in prose.An old woman at the end of her life and a young man at the beginning of his. Young, broken Francis Drake comes into the old woman’s sphere of existence to deliver a letter, and finds deliverance for himself. Through her sto [...]

A charming, magical read. The writing is superb, almost poetical and the characters well-developed. Marvellous Ways is a kind, caring but strong and wise woman. A healer in many ways, but to a degree she is also naive, sheltered from the world, but that makes her even more appealing as a character and vulnerable as a person. When hers and Drake's paths cross, a magical journey begins, a journey of self-discovery, forgiveness and a beautiful friendship starts.I loved that book. If you enjoy readi [...]

This is a difficult book to review. Those readers who enjoy beautiful sentences and lyrical writing will rave about it. Those who just want a good story will struggle to get into it. I had to keep re-reading bits as I keep losing the thread of the tale. And I'm still not sure I understood what happened in the end!

A Year Of Marvellous Waysis a beautiful heart warming read that i enjoyed more than i expected (which is good SO GOOD) It's about this eighty-nine-year-old brilliant woman called Marvellous Ways -I love her name SO BLOODY MUCH!!- Who sits by a creek waiting for her last adventure, she had plenty of them though but she is still waiting for the latest. And it's about Francis Drake a young soldier, worn out of war and broken hearted, these two characters will find their way to each other's lives an [...]

She asked only for a moment so that the cataract veil between Time-Past and Time-Now could shift. Are you a valuing the journey person, or all about the destination? If it's the former, how important is thestyleof the journey for you?The blurb for this book (and the gorgeous cover; we all know I'm a sucker for a beautiful cover) sucked me right in. But this is not a straightforward story told in a straightforward way. The book has a magic realism feel to it; though the book ties itself to partic [...]

This is such a beautiful book. In some ways it reminded me of Ben Okri's A Famished Road. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one of those very special books that is beautifully written and has a great story. I absolutely loved it.

The story of the last year of Marvellous Ways, ninety years old and still bathing naked in the creek. Set (I'm guessing it's never stated) in the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. It's not an easy one to get into, with disparate characters introduced in stages, giving the opening chapters a jerky feel. The tale does not flow at the start and I can understand how some have found this hard to stick with and given up. It requires slow reading. It needs to be savoured. Stay with it: the story settles [...]

I'd read and enjoyed When Rabbit was God, so I was looking forward to seeing what Sarah Winman would write next. And it was so worth the wait.I absolutely love this magical, marvellous book. I feel as if I've been searching for a book like this for some time. One that seeps right into your soul, like the water from Marvellous' creek running over your welly boots, and makes you feel as squelchy as the mud she sinks down into when collecting cockles.Everyone needs to spend some time with Marvellou [...]

Got this as a proof. And I can't decide if I liked it. After getting used to the style ( no "talking" marks anywhere in the book - which totally annoyed me) I wanted to see where everything tied in. It took about 3 chapters to adjust to the style and to be honest I found it hard work. Maybe people who rave on about Style and Lyrical Text and all that jazz will love it. Maybe it is some sort of experimental form. Personally I found it distracting and irritating. The plot had more coincidences and [...]

SpoilersThe writing wasn't my cup of tea, particularly Marvellous's chapters, it was hard to understand what was going on. She kept banging on about starfish and weird dreams, and flip flopped between the past and present and it was difficult to keep track of what was when. It got better later on in the book, but even then it still wasn't great, her chapters were a wishy washy mess of magical realism and bizarre ponderings. I wasn't keen on Marvellous's personality either, she was too pathetic, [...]

Very poetically written but, in my opinion, not in a good way. The author spent half the time using complex poetic phrases that I had to re-read the paragraph again to understand what was going on. Also the author, for who knows what reason, decided not to use any quotation marks throughout so I had no idea who was talking to who! Also the writing is very unclear you don't know who's story you are reading about or whether it is in the present or past. Disappointing end. This should have been a D [...]

3,5 tähteä. Jos haluat lukea jotain sadunomaista aikuisviihdettä, niin silloin tämä kirja on oikea siihen tehtävään. Kirjassa etsitään ja kohdataan rakkauksia, mutta ovatko ne pysyviä, siitä kannattaa ottaa selvää. Mikään ei ole itsestäänselvää tässä kirjassa. Muistot kulkevat mukanamme, ja ne vaikuttavat siihen elämään, jota elämme. Marvellous Waylle oli tullut aika, että muistot olivat yksi toisensa perästä unohtumassa pois ja oli aika liukua viimeiselle

A Year of Marvellous Ways is the story of Marvellous - her life and loves and Drake who arrives at her caravan by the sea in Cornwall, England. It is an unusual book and it took me awhile to acclimatise to it. I am used to speeding through a book! It takes a little while to get into the rhythm of reading it, I found it has to be read slowly - no skipping or I just might miss something. The language is poetical, sometimes evocative of the beauty of nature and at others of the stark ordinary worki [...]

Marvellous Ways is a little old lady who lives alone in a Cornish Creek waiting….until one day she gets an unexpected visitor.Story in a nutshellMarvellous Ways is eighty-nine years old and the Creek she calls home is almost all she’s ever known. She spends her days sitting by the river, telescope in hand, waiting for something – she’s not sure what but she’ll know when she sees it.One day she comes along an injured soldier, also with an unusual name – Francis Drake – and like Marv [...]

I received a proof copy of this book through First Reads.This book is so beautiful. It's moving and poignant and has elements of magical realism. Set in Cornwall in 1947, this absolutely brilliant book follows the last year of Marvellous Ways' life. She's 89 and has lived a lot of life but is still young at heart. She senses that something is coming and she's not sure what she's waiting for but she's waiting. A grieving young man, Drake, arrives in her little town and Marvellous nurses him back [...]

This is a lyrical, mystical story with a magical undertone. Marvellous is a wise old lady and she recounts her memories throughout the book. It’s a very evocative tale. She meets a man called Drake who needs nursing and they share their life histories. Their friendship forms a huge part of the story. It’s set in Cornwall which adds to the feel of the book .It would make a great book for a book club- as the writing style may not appeal to everyone but would promote great discussions- and ther [...]

maybe I just wasn't paying good enough attention but this was like the most confusing book I've ever read. quotation marks weren't used so half the time I was trying to figure out who was speaking. the other half of the time I was trying to figure out if they were in present day or if Marvellous was telling a story from the past. even when the story came together at the end I was like whaaaat? I don't not recommend it but I warn you that you'll need to pay more attention than I did or you too wi [...]

I really wanted to enjoy reading this book I loved the idea of "Marvellous Ways" and her life. But sadly, I found the story confusing and disconnected, and at times very difficult to follow the storyline."Marvellous" is a unique senior (89-90yrs old) who lives a lonely and isolated life, until Drake finds himself washed up in the creek by her home/ boathouse. People talk about her seeing her as odd, eccentric and not someone they want to get to know. Marvellous is drawn to the water and swims na [...]

A very poetically written and quite lyrical book with delightfully expressive passages. There are parts that describe life and emotions very well, you could properly open A Year of Marvellous Ways on any page and find something quotable. But having said that it's very indistinct in the story. Nothing is really anchored, at times it is so hazy it isn't really clear what exactly is supposed to have happened. It's very easy to lose track of the story and have to re-read parts. Its also a bit irrita [...]

a marvellous book with a marvellous story about marvellous people - i am soooo sad, that it ended ;-( i want to have more marvellous pages!

Marvellous Ways is a special lady. She's eighty-nine years old and she's living by herself in a creek. She's lived and loved, but didn't get the chance to grow old with the person she wanted to be with the most. When Drake joins her after a traumatic ending of his stay in London she knows he needs a place to stay. He was a soldier in the Second World War and he's fulfilling a dying soldier's wish to deliver a letter. They weren't friends, but he still travels a long way to keep this promise. Mar [...]

Sarah Winman’s A Year of Marvellous Ways has a lot in common with Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. Both novels are beautifully written and blend fantasy with a kind of understated realism. And in Winman’s case, there may be some nice writing to be savoured but it is also a frustrating read overall.Marvellous Ways is an old woman who lives in Cornwall and is waiting for something to happen. That something is a chance meeting with Francis Drake, a returning solider from the Second World Wa [...]

Cornwall 1947: Through the unlikely friendship between an old woman living alone in a caravan in a remote creek and a young soldier emotionally scarred by WWII as well as a more recent loss A Year of Marvellous Ways explores themes of love, death, coming to terms with grief, and letting go in beautifully poetic prose that keeps the reader enthralled from the very first page until the very last. A touching, quietly magical novel.

Sarah Winman is an accomplished writer. There’s no doubt about that. However, this book is proof that technical skill doesn’t necessarily translate into a good read, in the same way that clumsy writing isn’t always a hindrance to a heart-pounding story (*coughs* Twilight *coughs*)A Year of Marvellous Ways is the story of the improbably-named Marvellous Ways, a ninety-year-old hermit who lives in a gypsy caravan by a creek in Cornwall. She’s kind of a wise woman, herbal healer type, who g [...]

Oh god, this was beautiful.

I found this book some what disappointing. When I read about and old woman at the end of her life and a young man broken by Life, I thought it would be a great, profound story about all the things different generations can do for each other, about how events and perspectives change as they are processed though the lense of different number of years.I was mistaken. What I expected is there, but as a weak echo. The whole novel feels as though the author started out with a number of really great id [...]

This didn't really work for me, in fact, it was almost a DNF. Although the story itself wasn't so bad, I didn't connect to any of the characters (although it got a bit better towards the end) and I had troubles with the writing style. I'm all for beautiful writing, but this was too much. There were so many sentences or paragraphs I had to reread to fully understand (which I stopped doing after a while), I was sometimes confused whether scenes were set in the present or past, and I don't understa [...]

I bought this book to read on a mini-vacation and was hoping for an uplifting read. At about sixty pages into the book I set it aside as it wasn’t what I was expecting. But the writing was such a treat, that the next week I picked it up again… I’m really happy I did because it was such a beautiful, mesmerizing read about the relationship between an old woman named Marvellous and a damaged young soldier who cannot release his painful past. Marvellous is deeply connected to nature and spirit [...]

14/52, Binned. “It’s not about what books you read. It’s about what books make you happy.” I loved When God Was A Rabbit, and I was so looking forward to this. But, 60 pages in and I'm depressed as can be :( Don't get me wrong, it's beautifully written, but life can be depressing enough as it is without reading a book that just adds to it. I also decided a couple of years ago that life is too short to waste any of it on prose that just makes you sad. So, I'm sorry, Ms Winman, but into th [...]

I absolutely love this book. It is a slow, gentle , well written book. It flows carefully and poetically through the lives of the two main characters Marvellous and Drake, as their lonely and often sad story unfolds. Just as you begin to feel despair for each of them, something remarkable but simple happens. They develop a love of life and nature, meeting other gentle, caring people along the way. Often these people have a huge impact on their lives. In saying they are gentle characters, that do [...]