Unrelated to the story itself: I really like these miniature Penguin Classic short stories and short story collections because I’m interested in reading more classic short stories, but I have no interest in printing out pdfs or downloading pdfs onto one of my devices. I can see myself collecting these as I stumble upon them.

Félicité and A Simple Heart are both aptly named! It’s such a sweet, sad story about love, grief, and loss. We watch Félicité struggle with losing important figures in her life, but she is determined to seek joy and love everywhere and in everything an everyone, and her persistence and strength are so beautifully and believably written.

I spent the whole time reading wishing I could give Félicité a hug. Her heart and her capacity to love is so damn big that it pulled on my heartstrings. Is it kind of cheesy, kind of sappy, kind of predictable? Sure. But sometimes it’s nice to read a story that is designed to make you feel something beautiful and wholesome.

It's a quick read and not terrible but also by far not one of the best classics I've read.