“The humans leaned in, giving me the rarest of gifts - their undivided attention.”

This is a beautiful story of a family and a typewriter named Olivetti. It’s the best kind of story, one I recommend you pick up blind and discover page by page. 

Allie Millington writes with depth and heart. Her words, sentences, and pages go down like the very best chocolates - sweet and satisfying. I am so grateful she gave us the Brindles and Olivetti. 

I was intrigued by the premise of Olivetti, when I heard the middle grade book recommended on the Currently Reading podcast. I thought of it as gift for friend’s daughter who is turning 9, but wanted to vet it for content after seeing content warnings on Story Graph. After reading, I decided to hold off on gifting it to her until she’s a bit older. But am thrilled that I got to enjoy this heartfelt tale of family, community, love, communication, and healing together. The content warnings are true but so much less visible than the story Millington tells about our need for each other. The nods to writing, books, and libraries make this a special book with an important message, told in an engaging and delightful way.

“Sometimes, a stretch of sorrow can make you serious. Unsure of who you are, on the other side of it all.”

“Maybe the only way to get unstuck was to remember.”