The Museum of Ordinary People

 The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle (2023) 324 pages

Jess Baxter is a low-earning receptionist instead of the museum curator that she studied to be at college. She's been living with Guy, and it's clear that she's been bending to his life. After her mother died a year ago, we see via flashbacks the difficulty she had in going through her mother's house, clearing it out. She brought very little back to the apartment she shared with Guy because she knew that it wouldn't fit with his decor. She did, however, bring an old secondhand set of encyclopedias that her mother gave her at age 11, which represented her mother's wish for her future. When Guy decides to sell their apartment to buy a house, he wants the encyclopedias removed so that the apartment looks better for viewing.

Jess is ready to throw out the encyclopedias, when her best friend Luce discovers a Museum of Ordinary People that will take things like this and give them a home. When Jess brings the encyclopedias to the warehouse that the museum resides in, she meets the new owner, Alex, who just inherited the warehouse. Alex is not even aware of the museum's existence. Two employees that Alex also "inherited" show Alex and Jess the museum, and Jess finds herself completely drawn to it. She offers to transform the dusty warehouse spot into a better, more curated museum, and Alex gives her a chance to do it.

The story is quite good until later, when rather more conflict than I thought necessary was inserted. But by the end, I was again a fan.