REVIEW: Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler

In Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler When Millicent “Millie” Watts-Cohen befriended her ninety-eight-year-old next-door neighbor, Rose Nash, she didn’t expect it to change her life. Okay…that might sound dramatic, but it’s a hundred percent true. Even though there was about a seventy-year age difference between them, Millie never enjoyed spending time with anyone so much as she did with Mrs. Nash. Then she learned of the love story that shaped the older woman’s life. And it soon became Millie’s duty and honor to try to find Elsie Brown–the woman Mrs. Nash fell in love with during WWII. And the woman whom she thought had died a few short years later.

‘Love surged through Rose’s blood like a drug that made even the most absurd fantasies feel within reach. Maybe this year the war would end. Maybe this year would be the beginning of her new life–one with Elsie always by her side.’

When Mrs. Nash passes away peacefully, Millie begins searching for any info on whether Elsie is still alive. And to her surprise, she finds out the elderly woman is in Key West but isn’t in the greatest of health. Travel plans are made but then they go sideways while Millie is waiting for her flight. Her rescuer–not that she was looking for one–is none other than author Hollis Hollenbeck. Someone who knows her ex unfortunately, but who treats her with much more respect thankfully. And guess what? He’s headed to Florida as well. As Millie and Hollis make their journey down the East Coast, encountering one hurdle after another, they realize that the attraction simmering between them might just be something worth exploring.

“Are you sure you want to come to Key West?” I ask. “I’ll be okay alone if you’d rather–”
“Yes, I’m sure. I want to be there when you reunite Mrs. Nash and Elsie.”
“But why? You don’t believe in any of this lasting love stuff.”
“Maybe I’d like to be convinced that I’m wrong.”

You wouldn’t really expect tons of laughs from a novel titled ‘Mrs. Nash’s Ashes’ where a twenty-something-year old reunites a woman thought to have been killed during the Korean war with her long-lost love, but that was Sarah Adler’s debut in a nutshell. Poignant and sweet, sad, thoughtful, and at times hilarious, the quirky characters in this dual-timeline story captured my heart and attention in equal measures.

‘I have to give Mrs. Nash and Elsie their happily ever after. Because I think maybe, if I can make that happen, I might get one too.’

After reading the synopsis for Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure how Sarah Adler would make this rom-com believable or even be able to blend in humor, romance, and a subject so controversial in the historical portion of it. But I was pleasantly surprised with how it all came together, the flow of the book–and the storytelling itself.

Rose and Elsie’s chapters about their time together during WWII was everything. They knew a love like theirs wouldn’t be accepted and would likely lead to hardship and even harder feelings. I loved the tenderness as well as the adoration between Elsie and Rose. Their short time together was packed with enough enduring love and sacrifice to carry forward with them the rest of their lives. Even as they wondered about the paths not taken.

Millie and Hollis, well, they were a totally different type of couple when they (eventually) got together. They started off as mere acquaintances, but it was pretty clear right away that there was an attraction between them. Millie, honestly, made me think of the funny, offbeat heroines in books by Christina Lauren or Alice Clayton who are impulsive in a comical–not a harmful–way. Millie’s backstory, to me at least, helped explain why she was almost child-like at times in how she viewed the world–and how she held onto a naive kind of trust in people.

Hollis…he was Millie’s polar opposite. Jaded, grumpy, a disbeliever of happily ever afters, it seemed like he wouldn’t be the least bit interested in her or in Rose and Elsie’s romance. But Hollis definitely was. He even ended up getting a kick out of Millie’s outrageousness as they ran into problem after problem on their way from D.C. to Key West. I had my doubts a few times about Hollis, whether he was truly on Millie’s side, but Adler wrapped everything up in grand fashion that fit the couple to a T.

QOTD: Millie & Rose were best friends who were about seventy years apart in age. Have you had any meaningful friendships with someone significantly older (or younger) than you?

Book Info:

Publication: May 23rd, 2023 | Berkley |

A Most Anticipated Book by BookRiot ∙ Culturess ∙ and more!

A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love.

Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process.

She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion.

After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he can’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone.

But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.