The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard

From Goodreads

Elvira Carr is twenty-seven and neuro-atypical. Her father – who she suspects was in the secret service – has passed away and, after several Unfortunate Incidents growing up, she now spends most of her time at home with her overbearing mother. But when her mother has a stroke and is taken into care, Elvira is suddenly forced to look after herself or risk ending up in Sheltered Accommodation. Armed with her Seven Rules, which she puts together after online research, Elvira hopes to learn how to navigate a world that’s full of people she doesn’t understand. Not even the Seven Rules can help her, however, when she discovers that everything she thought she knew about her father was a lie, and is faced with solving a mystery she didn’t even know existed ..

My thoughts

I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10.

I am reading this book as part of the Debbie Macomber 2021 Reading Challenge via Twitter, each month Debbie set different criteria.  This book fulfils March (as I am a month behind, well I was when I started it) and is a book that was recommended to me, I have no idea who recommended it to me though as it was a member from TBConFB (The Book Club on Facebook) an online Book group that I am in and I didn't take their name down.

I can't say that I had heard of this book previously, but I am glad that it was recommended to me.  I have previously read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which is about another young lady who finds it hard to fit in socially for one reason or another.  Elvira (Ellie) Carr is similar in some ways to Eleanor.  However, the stories are different obviously, but I can recommend both of them if you've not read them yet.

Elvira's Mum was born on the same day as my Mum 04.08.1943, but that's were the similarities or coincidences between Elvira and myself end!  It just made me smile when I spotted it in the book.  Unlike my Mum, Elvira's Mum had her later in life, so Elvira is quite a bit younger than me.

This is a well written story about a young woman with some social issues, she struggles interacting with others due to her neuro atypical diagnosis.  She's a lovable quirky character in my opinion and I thoroughly enjoyed being in her company while I was reading the book.  I found this quite a thought provoking read

She finds that she has to learn to become more independent due to her Mother having been hospitalised following having had a stroke and then ending up in care.  If she doesn't become more independent she's at risk of going into sheltered accommodation herself.  Elvira sets about trying to follow seven rules that she has compiled for herself, are these rules any help to her or will they end up being the bane of her life? As the story progresses Elvira learns a lot about her past, particularly her Father and some secrets that she had no idea about are slowly revealed to her, which in many ways begin to turn her life upside down and she is left trying to solve a bit of a mystery that she had no idea existed at all.  

This is a book that would make a great reading group read in my opinion.  There is so much that can be discussed about it. I could reveal some of the points that I feel would make great discussion, but by doing so I would end up revealing some of the story and it's better for you to do that for yourself by picking a copy up and reading it.