Leena is falling apart. It’s been happening for a while, ever since her sister died, although she’s been able to press on. But when she blows a big presentation at work, her boss forces her to take a two-month sabbatical.
Her grandmother Eileen is trying to move on after her unfaithful husband left her, but dating at 79 isn’t easy, especially in her tiny Yorkshire village of Hamleigh-in-Harksdale. (She knows all of the men and the pickings are pretty slim.) But she has her friends and her town projects to keep busy.
When Leena comes to visit and they talk about their various issues, she poses a great idea: the two should swap lives for two months. Eileen can move into Leena’s London flat and try her hand at online dating, while Leena can take on Eileen’s projects and decompress. And Eileen hopes that Leena can mend her relationship with her mother, which has been quite strained since her sister died.
Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems to be, and while Eileen finds freedom and opportunity in London, Leena struggles with finding her way, and realizes what she assumed was her grandmother’s simple, small-town life is anything but. And both make some interesting discoveries where matters of the heart are concerned.
This is an adorable, warm, moving book that utterly charmed me from start to finish. I loved Beth O’Leary’s first book, The Flatshare, and this book put the same smile on my face that that one did.
Can you see how the story will unfold? Sure. Does it matter? I don’t think so, not with these memorable characters and the terrific setting. It made me feel all warm inside!!
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