One Smile At A Time

Notebook Number Nine by Jackie Carreira is the most beautiful contemporary novel that sank into my heart and soul. I never wanted it to end.

The tale is one of self-discovery. It begins in the year 2000 and ends in 2024. Bekki wants to discover the meaning of life, and the meaning of her life, in particular. She makes drastic changes. Notebooks are bought and written in over the years. “A journey of self-development doesn’t take you to a place on a map. It takes you to a place inside yourself.”

We learn that changes don’t happen overnight. For change to be consistent, we need to implement small changes regularly over time. We will always have the choice to do the right thing.

Along the way, Bekki meets people who will change her life with their care, kindness and compassion. There are those who look out for others – Ruth and Alf run a café and they have a heart to feed and help the homeless. There are some huge hearts within the book.

We ‘hear’ Bekki’s thoughts on religion, politics and war – the latter is particularly poignant, as we read:

“The only people that ever benefit from war are arms dealers and undertakers.”

We learn the value of a smile. To change someone’s world, all it may take is a smile. Practice kindness. “If you can make one person’s life a little better every day, then you’ve changed the world.”