Review: Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson aka Three Women and a Boat

My Interest

I LOVED Anne Youngson’s late-in-life debut novel, Meet Me At the Museum. Not only did it give me hope as a late-in-life writer hoping to be published before I die, but it gave me hope as a woman of a certain age. When I found the audio of Narrowboat Summer I thought I would love it and I was right! [U.K . readers, this is Three Women and a Boat in your world].

Map of British Canals

The Story

Eve has been fired from her long-time engineering job in a major corporation. Sally has just had enough of her long-time boring marriage and uninterested grown children. Anastasia and dog Noah make their life on a canal boat, but old age and illness have just intruded. So, although improbable, the three women join forces in an unlikely alliance. Anastasia hands over Noah and her boat, the Number One, to novice canal boaters Eve and Sally. Eve hands over her apartment to Anastasia as she gets treatment for cancer. The three women’s lives, and a few other people’s lives, will never be the same again.

My Thoughts

This was the book I was searching for when I read Miss Benson’s Beetle! A couple of women, improbably friends, thrown together on an adventure that turns out to be just what they needed. The audio book was perfectly read by Helen Lloyd and I did not want it to end. I loved every minute of this one. It was a perfect addition to my intentional “seasonal” reading, too. My only teeny-tiny quibble was that Billy’s storytelling was a bit long for me. That’s very, very minor though. And, for some reason, when one character was in the scene I kept picturing Ivanka!

My Verdict

4 Stars

Just Wonderful

Narrowboat Summer/Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson

Scroll down to see videos of life on a narrowboat, and a conversation with the author about this wonderful book.

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