Review: Life seems to have passed by Eddie Winston, but he gets another chance in ‘delightful’ novel

Eddie Winston is 90, but for all practical purposes he is more like 17. Like a teenager, he’s gregarious, gangly but strong (few 90-year-olds can sit in the grass for a picnic lunch and then hop up again no problem) and — most importantly — he has yet to enjoy his first kiss.

This unlikely but delightful character is at the heart of Marianne Cronin’s novel, “Eddie Winston is Looking for Love,” an entertaining story filled with all good things — friendship, honor, generosity, humor and, yes, love.

Eddie works in an English charity shop, sorting through the detritus of other people’s lives. Every so often, he happens upon a donation that he thinks the giver might want back — old letters, photographs or a special article of clothing. These he smuggles home and stores on the “Eddie shelf,” keeping them in case the giver reconsiders. (This is how he acquired his guinea pig, Pushkin.)

When the book opens, a weepy young woman named Bella has brought in a carton of things he knows right away are destined for the Eddie shelf — drawings, clothes and photographs. They belonged to Jake, the love of her life, who has died. Eddie lets her know, gently, that when she wants them back, those things will still be there.

Over time, Bella and Eddie become the best of pals — this pink-haired 24-year-old who works at a supermarket, and this youthful 90-year-old who wears bow ties and has never known love.

Well, that’s not exactly true. He was in love, once, as a young man, with a woman named Bridie.

Bridie and Eddie met when he was a doctoral student at the University of Birmingham and Bridie was a librarian there, and it was love at first sight. Bridie was shy, insecure and — sadly — married to an indifferent, philandering professor.

It is clear that Bridie and Eddie are made for one another. It is equally clear that both remain too respectful of her marriage vows to do anything more than gaze at each other with longing, drink tea, and talk and talk and talk.

Their friendship lasted only a year or so, but once they part ways Eddie simply gives up on the idea of love.

And now, 70 years later, he is starting to rethink that decision.

Together, he and Bella begin to heal, getting each other to take risks and rejoin the world. For Eddie, this means trying internet dating on the Platinum Singles site. For Bella, it means playing wingman and accompanying him on his rather madcap adventures.

The book’s energy comes partly from its structure; it bounces between first-person chapters narrated by Eddie and third-person chapters told from a variety of points of view. It moves from present-day to the past, slowly unraveling the backstory of Eddie and Bridie. And it barrels toward a satisfyingly romantic conclusion, including a chapter involving Queen Elizabeth.

Goofy? A bit. Romantic? Sure. Implausible? Who cares? “Eddie Winston is Looking for Love” is great fun for this darkest time of year.

Laurie Hertzel is a book critic in St. Paul. She also reviews for the Washington Post and the Boston Globe.

Eddie Winston is Looking for Love

By: Marianne Cronin.

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 292 pages, $18.99.