The premise for this novel is excellent. A woman, nearly 100 years old, is dying. She has kept an address book her entire life and revisits important chapters of her life based on the names in it. This is not unlike Jonas Jonasson's upbeat and quirky The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. When a reader works through 100 years of someone's existence, bits of real history are presented, so this is a contemporary story with many historical elements.

Jonasson's book has humor throughout whereas Lundberg's borders on melancholy yet is also heartwarming and charming. Issues of poverty, grief, abandonment, sexual assault, war, romantic betrayal, and ultimately illness shape the life of Doris, once a stunningly beautiful Swedish girl. As she reminisces in Sweden, her grand-niece in San Francisco feels an overwhelming need to get to her as Doris is the only one with the secrets to her past. Theirs is a special, tender relationship.

This is a very nice read, but one with a somewhat unrealistic, almost smarmy ending that wraps up too neatly in three story threads. Doris had a life with one major setback after another, toggling between extreme poverty and life with wealthy people. She is a great character; does not want to be treated like an elderly person. Loves her computer and loves to writes stories. Just a bit overly sweet.