If Britt-Marie had been to my house the sheet in this photo would be ironed flat.

She believes that cutlery drawers should be organized in a certain way (fork, knife, spoon) and that people should use coasters. But she doesn’t have expectations around what her life should be so after her philandering husband has a heart attack while out with his perfumed girlfriend, Britt-Marie decides to start a new life.

Criticized by her husband as socially awkward, she soon and through no plan of her own or anyone else’s, finds herself an integral part of the social and familial fabric of Borg. Later, torn between shoulds, she makes a courageous choice.

I now miss Britt-Marie. When I vacuum the oak leaves out of the cacti and take tweezers to the 4-leaf clover growing between the spines, I say a gentle hello to the Britt-Marie in me.

Warning: I don’t read much fiction in part because I get attached to the characters and when sad things happen to them, I cry. Britt-Marie Was Here is no exception.