The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett is a novel by Annie Lyons published in 2020 by William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins). The United Kingdom version (2020) is titled Eudora Honeysett is Quite Well, Thank You.

Annie Lyons began her career in bookselling and then publishing before becoming a novelist. Based in London, England, Lyons has published seven novels and one novella, including The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, which was a USA Today bestseller and nominated for a Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Contemporary Novel Award. With its dual timeline of 21st-century events and flashbacks to World War II and the following decades, the novel is an example of both women’s fiction and historical fiction. Told in a third-person limited point of view, the novel uses the titular protagonist’s life to explore themes of Intergenerational Friendship, Reconciling with the Past and Embracing Second Chances, and The Importance of Kindness.

This guide refers to the William Morrow American paperback version of The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett.

Content Warning: The source material contains discussions of suicide, domestic violence, bullying, mental illness, alcohol use disorder, and pregnancy loss.

Plot Summary

Eudora Honeysett is 85 years old and living alone in her family’s London home. She is ready for her long, difficult life to be over. At every turn, she has experienced hardship and heartache, and now that all her loved ones have passed on or otherwise left her life, she is ready to rest.

Flashbacks that appear at the end of most chapters reveal Eudora’s past. Eudora’s childhood was happy until her father, Albert, left to join the battlefront in World War II. Before he left, Albert exacted a promise from young Eudora to take care of her mother, Beatrice, and her yet-to-be-born little sister, Stella. Eudora took that promise very seriously, and when Albert did not return from war, she devoted her life to taking care of Beatrice and Stella.

Stella proved to be a difficult child, while Beatrice resented her young daughter for being born amid the war that killed Albert. Stella and Beatrice argued all the time and made life unpleasant for Eudora, who constantly attempted to reconcile them to one another. Eudora finally found love with a man named Eddie, but on the eve of their wedding, Eddie and Stella ran off together. Eudora told Stella never to call her again.

Over the following years, Eudora supported her best friend, Sylvia, as she dated and married a man named Ken and then had a baby, Philip. Unfortunately, Sylvia had to move away when her husband received a promotion that took him to Canada. When she next visited Eudora, Philip was a teenager and Eudora and Sylvia had nothing left in common.

One day Stella called Eudora frantically asking for help, saying that Eddie was drinking and abusing her. Stella was pregnant and afraid for herself and her child. Eudora warned Stella not to call her again but was then struck with guilt when she received the news that Eddie threw Stella down the stairs; both she and her unborn child died in the incident. At the funeral, Eudora reconnected with a childhood crush, Sam Buchanan, now divorced with two children whose custody he shared with his ex-wife, Judith. Sam and Eudora fell in love, but when Judith moved the children with her to Norwich, Sam followed while Eudora chose to stay with her mother. Beatrice had recently tried to overdose on pills, and Eudora felt compelled to take care of her. Eudora stayed with Beatrice until she passed away.

In the present-day timeline, Eudora contemplates assisted suicide. Last year, she fell on the sidewalk and had to go to the hospital. While there, Eudora met Elsie, another elderly woman, who commented that dying in the hospital would be terrible and shared a brochure for the Klinik Lebenswahl, an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland. After giving it some thought, Eudora sent away for more information, which she receives as the novel opens.

Meanwhile, a new family moves in next door to Eudora. The new neighbors, Maggie and daughter Rose Trewidney, knock on Eudora’s door and begin a friendship with her against her wishes. Rose turns up at Eudora’s door frequently, inviting herself in for tea or asking Eudora to come swimming with her. Rose also meets Stanley, another of Eudora’s neighbors. At first, Eudora resents Rose’s intrusion in her life and her end-of-life plans, but she slowly warms to the little girl. She also feels sympathy for Stanley, who is heartbroken after the loss of his wife.

The trio begins spending time together. Eudora is invited to Stanley’s son Paul’s 50th birthday party, so Rose helps Eudora find a new outfit to wear. They all go together with Rose’s family to the seaside and ride the carousel together. Eudora even eats pizza at Stanley’s favorite restaurant for his birthday.

Periodically, Dr. Greta Liebermann and Petra from the Swiss clinic call to check in on Eudora to evaluate if she is a good candidate for assisted suicide. At first they are concerned that she might just be lonely and depressed, but as they hear about Eudora’s activities with Rose and Stanley, they decide that she is a good candidate after all. Eudora meets a death doula, Hannah, who talks with her about dying at home with loved ones all around, and Eudora is intrigued by the idea.

Eudora takes Stanley to a social group for the elderly, where he makes new friends and starts to come out of his depression. On another occasion, Rose knocks franticly on Eudora’s door, and Eudora rushes over to help Maggie give birth. These experiences change her perspective on life, and she begins to see that she is useful to and loved by her new friends. However, when her cat, Montgomery, dies unexpectedly, Eudora decides to follow through with her assisted suicide plan after all.

Stanley drives Eudora to the airport, and when she explains why she is going to Switzerland, they have a heart-to-heart talk. Eudora expresses her fears that everyone will leave her and her deep guilt about how her mother and sister’s lives turned out. Stanley assures her that these things are not her fault and that he, Rose, and her other new friends will not leave her. Eudora cancels her trip and returns home.

Soon after Rose’s birthday, Eudora’s health begins to decline. Her friends rally around her and turn her home into a safe place for her to spend her last days, surrounded by people who care about her. They take shifts so that she does not have to be alone. Eudora makes peace with her past and tells Rose all the stories from her youth, finally concluding that she had a good life after all. At the end of the novel, Eudora passes away peacefully.