“Life, of course, was not a competition. But, had it been one, Iona had imagined herself well in the lead.”

Nobody ever talks to strangers on the train. It’s a rule. But what would happen if they did? Our book fairies all around Canada have been sharing Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting today!

“Today was going to be the day, thought Sanjay as he made his way to the station to catch his usual train. The day he finally plucked up the courage to speak to The Girl On The Train.”

– Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting

About the book:

Every day Iona, a larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, travels the ten stops from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station by train, accompanied by her dog, Lulu. Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Constant-Reader and Terribly-Lonely-Teenager. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do.

Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He’d have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver.

This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common except their commute discover that a chance encounter can blossom into much more. It turns out that talking to strangers can teach you about the world around you–and even more about yourself.

“There was a life lesson there, thought Iona. In her experience, most endings turned out to be beginnings in disguise.”

– Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting

Happy book finders!

We love hearing from those lucky people who find the books we leave behind! Today we received so many messages and here are our favourites…

Not lucky enough to find a book?

Do not worry, Clare Pooley’s Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting is available at all good bookstores, as well as online at Indigo.

Would you like to be a book fairy?

Anyone, anywhere can join in! Just grab some official book fairy stickers and get started…