Believing

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood is the most beautiful contemporary novel that sank deep into my heart and soul. I never wanted it to end. I feel bereft, as if I have just said goodbye to dear friends – the characters were so much more than just characters in a book.

The tale deals with grief, loss and pain. This is not a unique condition but can affect anyone, whatever their age. We witness this in an eleven-year-old boy, two characters in their thirties and two characters in their twilight years. Different life experiences have brought them all to the same place – a life at a standstill, paralysed in different ways, by fear and loss. They each recognize the condition in others, and are determined to help them to mend and heal.

We see the heavy weight of guilt. “How long are you going to punish yourself for what you did?” We cannot change the past but we can learn from it as we step into the future. “He was a man with a past… Guilt, shame… But he was also a man with a present and a future.” When the past threatens to overwhelm, we must listen for the future calling us.

We need to be wise as to the voices we listen to. “When you told yourself a story for long enough, you began to believe it was fact.” We are our own worst enemies. We believe ourselves to be unworthy – and if we say it often enough, we believe it. But we need to realise that this is not the truth. We can be a better person today than yesterday. Our past does not define us.