This cover seems like a mismatch with the actual book, in my opinion. Yes, the main character Bob is a librarian. But the vast majority of the book is about this librarian's backstory, which has little to do with books or libraries. Yes, Bob has retreated into a world of books when he finds his world doesn't make sense. Unlike many books in this found family late in life genre, this novel doesn't unfold in that way. While both of my expectations for what this would be weren't met (because, honestly, the found family late in life trope is getting a little overdone and saccharine to me), I still didn't really like this novel as much as I wanted to. 

Retired librarian Bob finds a confused woman in the grocery store and brings her back to the retirement home. He starts volunteering there to bring books to the residents, but they aren't really into that since most have some form of dementia. He pivots and does regular volunteering, and then he's prompted to delve into his past after the reader learns that his new wife left him for his best friend in his 20s, and he never recovered. 

The second part of the novel is his wife and the best friend back in his 20s. While I didn't mind reading it, it's pretty much easily summarized by what the reader already knew - his wife left him for his best friend.

The third part of the novel is rather strange. It goes even farther into Bob's past when he ran away and met two traveling thespians and their dogs as a tween. Hijinks ensue. I am not a fan of traveling hijinks. I'm sure there's a greater message (and I even caught a morsel of it), but I was wholly uninterested in this & then I was confused why we didn't learn about it BEFORE the story of his wife. 

There are good morsels in this novel, and a few good quotations, but I didn't enjoy it that much.