The best novels with eccentric characters who have something important to say

The Maid is a wonderful, whimsical book about Molly, a maid in a posh hotel who finds a body. Molly is on the spectrum and is treated unfairly by her colleagues, with a few notable exceptions. A natural truster, she takes things—and people—at face value. Molly is so lovable! Endowed with quirks such as calling the family nest-egg money “the Faberge”, she is charming and we can’t help but root for her. One of her strengths is that, despite all that happens, she never loses her faith in human nature.

Here's a thought from Molly, and I think this applies to us all: "My truth is not the same as yours because we don't experience life in the same way."

This is an incredibly poignant story of an old man who goes out to post a letter but then keeps walking… from Devon all the way up England to Berwick-on-Tweed, on a mission… in his yachting shoes. As he meets and listens to people en route, his own tragic past is gradually revealed. Harold made me sob loudly, but there was something so beautiful about his nonsensical pilgrimage; his patience, gentleness, openness, persistence, and, perhaps above all, his hope.

"He saw that people would make the decisions they wished to make, and some of them would hurt both themselves and those who loved them, and some would pass unnoticed, while others would bring joy. He did not know what would follow from Berwick-upon-Tweed, and he was ready for that."

This novel made me giggle and made me think, too. It’s written from the perspectives of several very different people whose lives unexpectedly intermingle on a train. The one who steals the show (for me, at least) is Iona Iverson. She’s a middle-aged eccentric, equipped with an ever-ready handbag and French bulldog, and she is magnificent with it! She does not care what others think of her and has her own rules and routines firmly in place, but she has a huge heart. 

Some advice from Iona: "Your past experiences… are the foundations on which to build your future. Build them on pride, not shame."

I loved this book for its characters, especially Norman. Only a twelve-year-old boy, Norman has suffered the loss of his one true friend and now forms brave new plans: to find his birth father and to perform as a stand-up comedian at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. He is helped by his mother, her older colleague, and others he meets on the road trip to Scotland. Norman has terrible skin psoriasis, a fetish for cheese on toast, and vast quantities of courage and determination.

Some wisdom from Norman: "Never give up. Because no matter if everything goes to hell in a hand basket and you lose your father, your footy career, your baby, your memory, your son, your breath or your best friend, you’ve just got to keep on going."

Again, here is a fantastic cast of characters: the bold Mrs. B, the swearing Fox terrier, Decius, and the unassuming protagonist, Janice. Quiet, kind, thorough, outwardly unremarkable, Janice is a cleaner. She is also a wonderful listener. What a joy it is when, with a little help from her friends, she finally unlocks her own story and transforms her life.

Here’s the moment when Janice grasps how much hope can be found in stories: "She looks around at the shelves of books, every one of which she has handled, and she begins to think there may be a way. A way of finding that hope. She is, after all, a collector of stories and a storyteller. Maybe she could tell her story as she has told other stories?"