Marvelous Days

By: Hayden Thompson
Publisher: Independently Published
Publication Date: May 16, 2024
ISBN: 979-8328712712
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle
Review Date: July 18, 2024

In Marvelous Days by Hayden Thompson, Kevin Brunner, who is a widowed biologist and an expat living in Germany, decides that now is the perfect time to retire. Since his wife is deceased, he fills his time with extensive traveling throughout France, something he couldn’t do much of while he worked the past thirty years in the biology field. Among these many vacations, he meets new people that eventually become his true friends that he keeps in touch with over years to come.

Since he is retired, he has come to the decision that his current residence is too big, and it’s time to scale down since it’s just him. While he is going through some of his late wife Elma’s things, he comes across a box full of her travel items from their France and Switzerland trips. Flipping through one of her travel books, an envelope tumbles out of the pages. Curiously, he picks it up and opens the envelope. It contains a love letter between Elma and a gentleman named Paul. The contents reveal they were having an affair, which Kevin was completely unaware of. Since stumbling upon this devastating information, he has mixed feelings toward his deceased wife, because while he thought their relationship was fine, it clearly wasn’t. He now finds himself questioning a lot of things in his life. He moves to his new residence, and continues to travel extensively to occupy his time. Does Kevin ever get over the betrayal of his deceased wife? Will he find complete fulfillment in his travels?

This reviewer’s first impression of this uniquely written novel was that readers will find themselves so involved in Kevin’s life that they will feel as if they are another close companion to him, especially on his extensive travel vacations. As you turn the pages, you become more and more entwined in Kevin’s life through his emotions that he expressed throughout the pages. The narrative was written in first person and made this story read like a travel journal written by Kevin himself. Being written in first person, readers will feel more intimately engaged with Kevin as if he’s speaking directly to you as you turn the pages.

When Kevin found out about Elma’s affair randomly while going through her things, my heart bled for him because what he read was devastating. Through Kevin’s first-person narration, readers will easily feel as if they are sitting right next to him experiencing the heartbreak as he discovers that Elma had cheated on him. You can’t help but feel his devastation, confusion, and anger as he continued telling his story.

This story was told over a ten-year period from 2012 to 2022, including how Kevin and his family and friends lived through Covid isolation. It reads like a travel log and personal diary all wrapped into a neat package for the readers to unwrap as they turn each page.

Interestingly, Thompson has worked and traveled in various countries like his main character, Kevin. He had a career in medical science and decided he wanted to start writing fiction. Marvelous Days is his third novel. In addition, the pictures included in this novel were actually taken by the author himself.

Quill says: Marvelous Days is one book in which readers will go through a roller coaster of emotions as felt through the main character Kevin’s eyes. This reviewer truly enjoyed going on Kevin’s journey right alongside him.