Twenty Wishes

the long version

What Anne Marie Roche wants is to find happiness again. At thirty-eight, she's childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle's Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there's a feeling of emptiness. On Valentine's Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate…hope. They each begin a list of twenty wishes—things they always wanted to do but never did. Anne Marie's list includes learning to knit, falling in love again, doing good for someone else. When she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It's a relationship that becomes far more involving—and far more important—than Anne Marie had ever imagined. As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true…but not necessarily in the way you expect.