I would do one good deed a day for a year. It couldn't be that hard - could it?'
Judith O'Reilly moved to Northumberland to please her husband, believing this huge act of charity would be her greatest - and last.
. . . swept out mouse traps for neighbours
But, after worrying that she could, if she tried harder, be a better person, the urge to help others returns, and she decides to spend a year being good.
. . . found a lost child - my second of the year. I am keeping the third.
However, Judith's first problem, in a land of mainly sheep and sky, is finding people in need of good deeds. But nothing is too big (well, the lifeboat crew won't have her) or too small (holding doors for ungrateful shoppers) and soon she has launched on the unsuspecting north the Jam Jar Army - its motto 'Eat the jam - Fill a jar with change.'
. . . helped a friend rest in peace.
From buying Steradent for a sick stranger to working in charity shops, from the science of good deeds to Catholic obligations, from the small acts of everyday charity we owe each other to a millionaire's philanthropy, Judith not only tries to be good but also explores why she and everybody else wants to do good.
