Smolinski gracefully balances lighthearted humor with insightful musings on addiction, mortality, nostalgia, and affection, making this an entertaining and touching read ("Publishers Weekly").
Lucy Bloom is broke, freshly dumped by her boyfriend, and is forced to sell her house to send her nineteen-year-old son to drug rehab. Although she s lost it all, she s determined to start over. So when she s offered a high-paying gig helping clear the clutter from the huge home of reclusive and eccentric painter Marva Meier Rios, Lucy grabs it. But she soon learns that the real challenge may be taking on Marva, who seems to love her objects too much to let go of any of them.
While trying to stay on course toward a strict deadline and with an ex-boyfriend back in the picture, a new romance on the scene, and her son s rehab not going as planned Lucy discovers that Marva isn t just hoarding, she is also hiding a big secret. The two form an unlikely bond, as each learns from the other that there are those things in life we keep and those we need to let go but it s not always easy to know the difference."