A novel of five lifelong friends who, in their sixties, decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where they not only start a chocolate business but strengthen their friendships and rediscover themselves. “I’ve planted my feet on Fijian earth and I intend to stay here until the last sunset. Why don’t you join me? Leave behind everything that didn’t work out!” When Sina, Maya, Ingrid, and …
When Sina, Maya, Ingrid, and Lisbeth each receive a letter in the mail posing the same question, the answer is obvious. Their old high school friend Kat—Kat the adventurer, Kat who spread her wings and took off as soon as they graduated—has extended the invitation of a lifetime: Come live with me on my cocoa farm in Fiji. Come spend the days eating chocolate and gabbing like teenagers once again, free from men, worries, and cold. Come grow old in paradise, together, as sisters. Who could say no?
Now in their sixties, the friends have all but resigned themselves to the cards they’ve been dealt. There’s Sina, a single mom with financial woes; gentle Maya who feels the world slipping away from her; Ingrid, the perennial loner; Lisbeth, a woman with a seemingly picture-perfect life; and then Kat, who is recently widowed. As they adjust to their new lives together, the friends are watched over by Ateca, Kat’s longtime housekeeper, who oftentimes knows the women better than they know themselves and recognizes them for what they are: like “a necklace made of shells: from the same beach but all of them different.” Surrounded by an azure-blue ocean, cocoa trees, and a local culture that is fascinatingly, joyfully alien, the friends find a new purpose in starting a business making chocolate: bittersweet, succulent pieces of happiness.
A story of love, hope, and chocolate, PIECES OF HAPPINESS will reaffirm your faith in friendship, second chances, and the importance of indulging one’s sweet tooth.
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DNF at 43%
I don’t know if there was something lost in translation here, but I did NOT care for this book. The entire plot felt ridiculous, and I never connected with any of the five women. In fact, I had trouble differentiating between them as their voices are all so similar.
While I only read 43% of the story, what I came to understand was that four women who were once close in HIGH SCHOOL have decided, over 40 years later, to leave their families, homes, and everything they know in Norway to travel halfway around the world to live out the rest of their lives in Fiji with a woman three of the four haven’t kept up with at all since high school.
Yeeeeeah. Ok.
In everything I read, I never got the impression that these women really even like one another. Sure, a couple of them get along separately, but as a whole group, they never really clicked. The fact that they would leave EVERYTHING behind to live on an island with a woman they barely know was just too unbelievable.
Not to mention, people may THINK Fiji is all white sandy beaches and little umbrellas in fruity drinks, but I lived in Hawaii for three years…I can say with absolute certainty that tropical island paradises are never what they seem. Day-to-day life on an island in the middle of the Pacific can be very rugged and basic, and there are so many things you have to learn to live without that are readily available and plentiful on the mainland. I sincerely doubt these women in their 60’s would relish moving to a small island in their twilight years where life is HARDER, where you don’t have all the modern conveniences they had in Norway.
Whatever. Maybe I’m taking this book too seriously, but I just didn’t like it, so I decided to move on. Life’s too short to read crappy books, and I’ve spent more time than I intended to on this review. I’m over it. Next.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
What initially drew me to this book was that the central characters are women in their late 60s, almost my age group (note: I said almost). By the end of the book, age is irrelevant as the message is clearly for all.
Kat, recently widowed, sends this letter to her four high school friends in Norway: “I’ve planted my feet on Fijian earth and I intend to stay here until the last sunset. Why don’t you join me? Leave behind everything that didn’t work out!” Who could resist? What would I do?
At Kat’s cocoa plantation, they start a gourmet cocoa business, struggle to renew their friendship, eventually become a sisterhood and discover pieces of happiness along the way. ach of the chapters is narrated by one of the six central characters, giving the reader an intimate glimpse into very different lives:
Kat, the volunteer who spent her life traveling around the world and trying to leave it a better place now faces life alone.
Sina, a single mom with an ungrateful child who finally decides to put herself first.
Ingrid, the spinster bookkeeper who lets her alter ego, Wildrid shine.
Lisbeth, the materialistic one whose marriage provided only material things now finds other things to make her happy.
Maya, the retired schoolteacher, so full of knowledge that is now slipping away due to Alzheimer’s.
Ateca, Kat’s Fijian housekeeper who watches, sees, worries and prays over all the women.
To sum up the book, this quote from Ateca says it all: “The ladies in the house are like a necklace made of shells: from the same beach, but all of them a little different. Each one worries for the next one on the string.” This was a thoroughly enjoyable book with occasionally poetic writing, great character development and a glimpse into another culture. There was also a point to make for women of all ages, that life is short so enjoy it while you can, we should be kinder to each other and second chances are allowed.
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Loved this book – a great story of several women who are very different but who come together to support one another
A very interesting book!
very difficult to keep up with because of all the strange names etc—I didn’t finish it
This is one of my favorites this year. Recommended to ladies of my book club.
I am around the age of the characters in the story so I am having fun relating to them.
I had to have this book! It is about living in Fiji and I was preparing for a trip to Fiji. I had already researched the customs and culture but this novel validated what I’d read and so much more. The book is moving and the characters really stay with you. The women are also in my age range, so there is that commonality no matter the nationality (I’m USA). It’s difficult to explain how much this book helped me understand Fiji on a spiritual level, not just a manners and customs level. I so appreciate the author’s having imparted this experience. It is so finely crafted, surely much of it is autobiographical. Perhaps she is a part of each of the women, but especially Kat. A wonderful read, even if you aren’t going to Fiji. (I am writing from my balcony on Denarau Island, near Nadi, on Viti Levu. It is a beautiful paradise. ) Bula!
have not finished the book as of yet
I totally enjoyed this study of women of a certain age…….with the universal problems of aging………..plus the exotic setting.
Instead of the usual contemporary romance that I choose, I was captivated by the idea of 5 women in their 60’s coming together to rebuild their lives. Because of the number of women in the story, I had some trouble remembering who was who. But all in all, it was a good read and, as a woman now in her 60’s, I could relate to the struggles the characters were going through.
This is the story of 5 friends in their late 60’s who join their friend, Kat, in Figi. The friendship they’ve had over 50 years – even though they haven’t been super close – is explored and they begin to rediscover themselves and what being a friend means. I enjoyed reading of their insight as it’s something me and my friends are experiencing at this time of our lives.
Pieces of Happiness by Anne Ostby is the story of five friends starting a new lease on life in their 60s. Kat had finally settled down in Korototoka, Fiji with her husband, Nicklaus after year of traveling. Unfortunately, they only got to enjoy Vale nei Kat, the cocoa plantation, for a few years before he passed away. Kat wrote to her four high school friends (that she has not seen in forty years) inviting them to join her in Fiji. It will give all them a chance to reconnect and start a new venture together. Ingrid, Sina, Lisbeth, Maya and Kat had never thought they would get such an opportunity and leap at the opportunity. Their golden years will be filled with friendship, happiness and chocolate. Each one of them have secrets they wish to keep hidden, but it is hard to do with good friends. The first thing the five of them need to decide is how to make the farm profitable. Soon Kat’s Chocolate is born. Can they make a success of the business? Can the five friends live out the rest of their days together? See how these five women fare in this book about friendship, second chances and healthy chocolate.
Pieces of Happiness was not a pleasant read for me (made me wish we could read a preview before agreeing to review). The POV alternates between the five women and the housekeeper which made it confusing (especially if you put the book down and then come back to it hour later). All the characters are thrown at you and I never did get them straight (they each have a different story). I found the pace to be slow (plodding). The writer is overly descriptive and likes flowery prose (which I found off putting). It reminded me of how people talked in the 1960s (based on movies, not actual experience—just to clarify). Think San Francisco, Haigh-Ashbury, laid back islands, crystals, Zen. I believe I am too sensible for this novel. The writing seemed clunky (for lack of a better word) and the book was too long (you can see why I started skimming—my term for speedreading). It could be (in part) the translation of the writing from the author’s native language to English (but this should have been corrected by the editor). I found the story a little boring and it ended as expected. I give Pieces of Happiness 2 out of 5 stars (I did not like it). I tried several times to get into and read this novel (the blurb made it sound good). I ended up skimming through the book to see what happened to each character (I always finish a book I agreed to review).
One thing that really attracted me to this story, was that it was about a group of old time friends, who are my age, but age does not really matter to make it an interesting and relevant story.
This is a story about re-connections, about feeling useful and wanted, about finding out that life is still something that can be changed, and enjoyed.
Best friends Kat, Ingrid, Sina, Lisbeth and Maya, were school friends many years ago, in Norway but had not really seen each other in a long time. Now in their 60’s, and all wishing something was different in their lives receive an invitation from Kat to leave all behind if they wanted and to come and start a new life with her at her home in Fiji. It was a way for them all to start fresh and re-connect for better or worse.
In Fiji, the women learn about themselves and about their past relationships with each other and coming to grips with their past lives and the lives they will soon create.
This has a great story-line and character development. I think that no matter what age you are, you can connect with the characters and the issues that they each are going through, there is a piece of truth for everyone. This story gives a fun view of some of the Fijian customs, which help these ladies see things in a different light; and the Fijian people depicted in the story are wonderful especially Ateca and Maraia both with such open hearts and the know how to care and embrace what is going on. This is a novel that will stay with me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC of this book.