Book Review: Eddie Winston is Looking For Love by Marianne Cronin

Eddie Winston is a ninety-year-old man who volunteers in a charity shop, has a pet guinea pig called Pushkin, and is generally quite happy with his life.

But when a distraught Bella – more than sixty years his junior – bursts in to the shop one day, to donate items from her dead boyfriend, Eddie learns that his life can be so much more. Despite the generation gap, they bond instantly, spending their lunchbreaks together (Bella works in Sainsburys) and much of their free time hanging out. After Bella learns that Eddie has never been kissed, she makes it her mission to wing-woman him into the great romance of his life.

Eddie Winston is Looking For Love is the second novel from Marianne Cronin. Her first, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, was also about a cross-generational friendship, and also – considering the potential for it – impressively free of mawkishness. Eddie is a fantastic, fully-realised character, with a bold sense of style (people are always commenting on his jazzy shirts; he envies Bella her heart-shaped sunglasses so much that she buys him a pair) and an admirably open-hearted way of moving through the world. While Cronin is just in her early thirties, between Eddie and her debut’s Margot, her ability to create effervescent characters who’re in the winter of their lives is uplifting and refreshing.

It’s easy to understand what Eddie and Bella see in each other: she values his unjudgmental empathy, he thinks her brave and vibrant, they both look at the world a little askew. Though others are bemused by their friendship, they know the important thing is that it makes sense to them. Their ability to bring the best out of each other makes every scene they share delightful – accompanying them on their adventures is tremendous fun. The secondary characters are nicely painted too, like Eddie’s boss at the charity shop who’s obsessed with Bovril, and a handsome man Bella keeps seeing at Sainsbury’s she knows only, to begin with at least, as ‘Ham and Cheese’ (after his favourite sandwich).

Whilst Eddie is dipping his toe into the intimidating world of internet dating, we get sporadic chapters written from the point of view of his ‘one that got away’. Starting in 1965, we follow Bridie Bennett through a dissatisfying life lived in the shadow of a philandering husband that she never really loved – her sole joy comes through her chats with Eddie, who teaches at the college where she’s a department administrator. They are crazy about each other, but Bridie’s devout Catholicism keeps her faithful to her husband, despite the fact she knows very well her faithfulness is not being reciprocated. Still, as the years pass, we, like Eddie, never lose hope that the two will reunite.

In Eddie Winston is Looking For Love, Marianne Cronin does a terrific job of balancing the divergent tones – the romance and tragedy of Bridie and Eddie’s near-miss love story, and the comedy of Eddie and Bella’s hijinks – to create a novel that feels abundant and intimate, messy and tragic, frustrating and joyful. Just like life.

★★★★★

Eddie Winston is Looking For Love is published by Doubleday on 15 August 2024