Review of "The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers: A Novel" by Samuel Burr

Fiftysomething Pippa Allsbrook is an unmarried cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle enthusiast) who longs to socialize with like-minded individuals.



So Pippa starts a club called 'The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers', and recruits a variety of puzzlers, including: a codebreaker, an arithmetician; a trivialist; a jigsaw puzzle maker; an inventor of mechanical puzzles; a maze-designer; etc.



All the puzzlemakers - and the folks they meet - are engaging, each with his/her individual history, personality, and quirks. For instance, Sir Derek Wadlow, a codebreaker, was part of the team that built the Enigma machine at Bletchley Park;



Earl Vosey is a personable maze-maker whose wife has cancer;



Nancy Stone is a cab driver who excels at trivia;



Hector Haywood is a quiet artist turned jigsaw designer;



Angel, a housekeeper/cook, means well but causes chaos; and more.



In time the puzzlers become a kind of family, and decide to share a big house in the country, with a room for each resident, and studios and outbuildings where the puzzlemakers can work. The members, who make money from their puzzles, contribute to the household expenses.



Pippa never had a child, and she feels an absence in her life.



Then one day a miracle happens. A black leather hatbox with gold trim is left on the doorstep of the Fellowship residence. Inside the box is a baby boy, only a few days old.





Pippa becomes the boy's guardian, and all the puzzlemakers help raise the little fellow, who's named Clayton Stumper. Clayton is very happy at the Fellowship, though he's curious about his history: Who are his parents? Why did they give him away? Clayton can't seem to get any answers.



Then when Clayton is twenty-five, Pippa dies and leaves Clayton a series of puzzles to solve. The puzzles are actually a kind of treasure hunt that provides clues about Clayton's parents. The crosswords and riddles take Clayton to London.......



.....and then to the continent, and Clayton, who was very sheltered at the Fellowship, makes new friends along the way.



The story is told in dual timelines, so that Clayton's adventures in the present alternate with flashbacks to the past, when the puzzlemakers come together, establish their fellowship, 'adopt' Clayton, and so on.

I enjoyed this charming story, which shows that a diverse group of people can become a family; and that love can fluorish in unexpected places. As a bonus, the enthusiastic reader can try to solve the puzzles along with Clayton (they're not so easy).



Thanks to Netgalley, Samuel Burr, and Doubleday for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars