The Collected Regrets of Clover Summary: Life After Loss
Introduction
Clover Brooks has spent her adult life preparing strangers for death.
As a death doula in New York City, she sits beside the dying, records their final words, and carries their regrets in three leather notebooks.
She knows how to offer peace to others, yet her own life remains carefully sealed off from risk, intimacy, and change.
Mikki Brammer’s novel The Collected Regrets of Clover follows a woman who understands mortality better than most people understand ordinary living.
When a spirited elderly client and an unexpectedly persistent neighbor enter her world, Clover must confront the grief that has kept her isolated for decades.
The story moves through West Village apartments, a lakeside town in Maine, and a decades-old love story that refuses to stay buried.
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TL;DR
Clover Brooks works as a death doula, collecting the final regrets and confessions of dying clients.
She has built a life around other people’s endings while avoiding her own beginning.
Two new relationships—one with a dying photojournalist, another with a pushy neighbor—pull her toward the life she has been too afraid to live.
The story centers on grief, isolation, and the slow work of opening a closed heart.
Explore the Complete Chapter Summaries for This Book
The Collected Regrets of Clover Summary: Full Story
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Clover Brooks first encounters death at age five, when her kindergarten teacher collapses from a heart attack. While other children panic, Clover stays calm and holds his hand.
A year later, her parents die in a boating accident in China. She moves into her grandfather Patrick’s West Village brownstone, where she learns to observe the world through his quiet, scientific lens.
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Their Sunday routine of diner breakfasts and bookstore visits becomes the steady foundation of her childhood.
Years later, Clover studies death rituals across multiple countries. In Guatemala, her first crush rejects her in a humiliating way. Then, while she is in Cambodia at twenty-three, Patrick dies alone from a stroke.
The guilt of not being there crushes her. She returns to New York, keeps his apartment exactly as he left it, and becomes a professional death doula. Her work keeps her close to death while keeping her far from life.
Now thirty-six, Clover lives in isolation.
Her only friend is Leo, an eighty-seven-year-old neighbor who plays mahjong with her.
She records dying clients’ final words in three notebooks labeled Regrets, Advice, and Confessions. She sometimes acts out their unfinished business—buying mangoes or taking language classes—but she never builds a life for herself.
Her routine begins to crack when Sylvie, a warm and persistent millennial, moves into her building. Sylvie drags Clover to yoga, coffee, and dance classes.
Around the same time, Sebastian Wells hires Clover to care for his grandmother Claudia, a ninety-one-year-old former photojournalist dying of pancreatic cancer.
Sebastian’s father insists that Claudia not be told her diagnosis, so Clover pretends to be a photography student. The lie collapses when Claudia reveals she already knows.
Claudia asks Clover to help her prepare for death with honesty.
During their sessions, Claudia speaks of her greatest regret—a French sailor named Hugo Beaufort she loved in Marseille in 1956 but left behind to marry a sensible man. Sylvie tracks Hugo’s name to Lincolnville, Maine.
Clover and Sebastian take a road trip north, hoping to find him for Claudia.
In Maine, they learn the elder Hugo died two months earlier.
They meet his grandson, also named Hugo, a landscape architect who lives on a houseboat. The younger Hugo gives Clover a shoebox of unsent letters his grandfather wrote to Claudia.
The letters reveal that the elder Hugo came to America for her, saw her happy with her husband, and chose to walk away. Clover feels a strong pull toward the younger Hugo.
Back in New York, she secretly reads the letters to Claudia, who dies peacefully surrounded by family. Leo also dies soon after, telling Clover that the secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life.
Clover finally begins clearing out her grandfather’s belongings. She donates specimens, textbooks, and old furniture.
She finds evidence that Patrick had a secret decade-long romance with Miss Bessie, the bookstore owner—proof that he lived more fully than she knew.
Claudia leaves Clover a camera and perfume in her will. Clover plans a three-month trip to Nepal and beyond.
The younger Hugo, now working in Brooklyn, drives her to the airport and gives her a journal labeled ADVENTURES. They kiss.
Three months later, they meet on the cliffs of Corsica to scatter the combined ashes of Claudia and the elder Hugo into the Mediterranean.
Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Clover Brooks | A thirty-six-year-old death doula living in isolation after a lifetime of loss. |
| Patrick Brooks | Clover’s grandfather, a biology professor who raised her and kept a secret romance. |
| Leo Drake | Clover’s elderly neighbor and mahjong companion who offers final life advice. |
| Sylvie Anderson | Clover’s outgoing neighbor who pushes her toward friendship and new experiences. |
| Claudia Wells | A dying photojournalist whose lost love story shapes Clover’s own awakening. |
| Hugo Beaufort (Elder) | A French sailor who loved Claudia and moved to America for her. |
| Sebastian Wells | Claudia’s grandson who hires Clover and accompanies her to Maine. |
| Hugo Beaufort (Younger) | The elder Hugo’s grandson, a landscape architect who becomes Clover’s romantic partner. |
| Miss Bessie | Owner of the West Village bookstore and Patrick’s secret partner. |
| Guillermo | A dying client whose hamster confession Clover records. |
| Abigail | An unhoused artist who dies in the hospital with Clover by her side. |
| Bridget (called Julia) | A neighbor Clover watches through binoculars, later revealed to be dating Sylvie. |
| Priya | A high school classmate who rejected Clover’s friendship. |
| Tim | Clover’s first crush, who broke her heart in Guatemala. |
What Drives the Story
| Theme | How the book presents it |
|---|---|
| Existing versus living | Clover watches romantic movies, spies on neighbors, and lives through dying clients instead of building her own life. |
| Grief and chronic bereavement | Clover keeps her grandfather’s belongings and receives a diagnosis of persistent complex bereavement disorder. |
| Unspoken regrets | Clover records dying clients’ regrets in three notebooks and tries to act out their unfinished business. |
| Connection and vulnerability | Sylvie’s persistence, Hugo’s patience, and Claudia’s honesty slowly pull Clover out of isolation. |
| Death as instruction | Death cafes, doula work, and Leo’s peaceful death all show death as a teacher about living. |
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Memorable Quotes from The Collected Regrets of Clover
“In fact, if it weren’t for me, at least half of those ninety-seven people would’ve died alone. There may be almost nine million people living here, but New York is a city of lonely people full of regrets. It’s my job to make their final moments a little less lonesome.”
“It’s always important to be honest, Clover—even when people don’t hold you accountable.”
“The truth is, grief never really goes away. Someone told me once that it’s like a bag that you always carry—it starts out as a large suitcase, and as the years go by, it might reduce to the size of a purse, but you carry it forever.”
“But the secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life. Putting your heart out there. Letting it get broken. Taking chances. Making mistakes.”
“Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown.”
“Grief is just love looking for a place to settle.”
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Who Is The Collected Regrets of Clover For?
Readers drawn to quiet, character-focused stories about grief and emotional healing will find this book matches their interests.
Those who appreciate novels about found family, late-blooming romance, and the slow process of opening up after loss may also connect with the story.
The New York City and coastal Maine settings offer a grounded, atmospheric backdrop.
The pacing is steady and reflective, with the emotional arc taking precedence over plot twists.
Anyone curious about death doula work or stories that treat mortality as a natural part of life will find the subject matter handled directly but gently.
Books Like The Collected Regrets of Clover
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig shares a focus on regrets and the choice to embrace one’s current life.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman centers on a grieving, isolated protagonist whose routines are disrupted by a vibrant neighbor.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman follows a socially awkward woman opening up to friendship after trauma.
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley uses a shared notebook of truths and regrets to build community among strangers in London.
The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman explores grief, new beginnings, and unexpected love in a contemporary setting.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig features a protagonist shaped by centuries of loss and the difficulty of forming connections.
Sorry I Missed You by Suzy Krause involves three strangers connected by letters and unanswered questions, with themes of grief and moving forward.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt shares a quiet, character-driven story about loneliness, unlikely friendship, and healing.
Story Snapshot
- Genre & Subgenre: Contemporary Fiction, Up Lit, Romance, Grief Fiction
- Core Narrative Tropes: Healing from Grief, Found Family, Late-Blooming Romance, Road Trip
- Tone & Atmosphere: Tender, melancholic, introspective, hopeful
- Primary Conflict: Clover’s internal struggle between safety in isolation and the risk of living fully
- Pacing Style: Character-driven, steady, reflective
- ISBN-10: 1250870240
- ISBN-13: 978-1250870247
- Pages: 336
- Book Structure: 55 chapters, an epilogue, acknowledgments, and an about-the-author section
Mikki Brammer is an Australian journalist and writer based in New York City.
The Collected Regrets of Clover is her debut novel.
Before publishing the book, she worked as a lifestyle and travel journalist for publications including Architectural Digest and Condé Nast Traveler. Her writing often explores themes of loss, connection, and the ways people build meaningful lives.
