Call number
FIC YOU
Collection
Genres
Publication
Flatiron Books (2021), 336 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: "Narrator Helen Lloyd's consistent pace and subtle British inflections enhance this sweet story about seizing the day with friends." �?? AudioFile Magazine From the author of Meet Me at the Museum, a charming novel of second chances, about three women, one dog, and the narrowboat that brings them together. Eve expected Sally to come festooned with suitcases and overnight bags packed with everything she owned, but she was wrong. She arrived on foot, with a rucksack and a carrier bag. "I just walked away," she said, climbing on to the boat. Eve knew what she meant. Meet Eve, who has left her thirty-year career to become a Free Spirit; Sally, who has waved goodbye to her indifferent husband and two grown-up children; and Anastasia, a defiantly independent narrowboat-dweller, who is suddenly landlocked and vulnerable. Before they quite know what they've done, Sally and Eve agree to drive Anastasia's narrowboat on a journey through the canals of England, as she awaits a life-saving operation. As they glide gently �?? and not so gently �?? through the countryside, the eccentricities and challenges of narrowboat life draw them inexorably together, and a tender and unforgettable story unfolds. At summer's end, all three women must decide whether to return to the lives they left behind, or forge a new path forward. Candid, hilarious, and uplifting, Anne Youngson's The Narrowboat Summer is a celebration of the power of friendship and new experiences to change one's life, at any age. A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member tangledthread
This delightful summer read is blend of a pilgrimage story and a little bit of epistolary book, though the "epistles' take the form of phone calls. Three women in late middle age, heretofore unknown to one another, are at turning points in their lives. Eve is an engineer who finds herself out of
As Sally and Eve learn the ropes of boating Britain's historic canals, they do the kind of reflection that only comes with travel and separation from one's everyday routines. The author does a brilliant job of sharing those reflections as they learn to appreciate their differences as well as developing insight into themselves.
A number of other characters enter to create a community. The story is reminiscent of the Mason Missouri books by Elizabeth Berg ([The Story of Arthur Truluv], [Night of Miracles], [The Confession Club]) I suspect that Maureen Corrigan might classify this one as geezer lit....and that's okay with me.
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work. Sally is a homemaker who had decided to leave a loveless marriage, and Anastasia is facing a health crisis. Anastasia needs someone to get her narrowboat to the repair shop while she gets treatment for lung cancer. Eve and Sally volunteer to take on the narrowboat over 300 miles of canals while Anastasia uses Eve's apartment during her treatment.As Sally and Eve learn the ropes of boating Britain's historic canals, they do the kind of reflection that only comes with travel and separation from one's everyday routines. The author does a brilliant job of sharing those reflections as they learn to appreciate their differences as well as developing insight into themselves.
A number of other characters enter to create a community. The story is reminiscent of the Mason Missouri books by Elizabeth Berg ([The Story of Arthur Truluv], [Night of Miracles], [The Confession Club]) I suspect that Maureen Corrigan might classify this one as geezer lit....and that's okay with me.
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LibraryThing member eyes.2c
Meanderings to relish!
I so enjoyed Narrowboat Summer. A very different read. A story to savor. A quiet winner. Three women meet on a tow path just out of London and for two their lives change forever.
A fabulous cast of eccentric characters and two middle aged women. Sally had just walked out on her
Walking from different directions along the tow path the women happen to intersect with each other and Anastasia, a hardened canal boat owner who’s worked the canals and locks for years.
Eve and Sally find themselves deciding to help Anastasia out of a problem, crewing on her narrowboat The Number One, learning the locks and the rhythms of the river, before taking it to a boatyard at Chester whilst Anastasia took care of some health needs. This was the start of a journey measured in days not hours, a journey of the soul.
And that's what drew me on! The people, the rhythms, the slow winding down and calming that takes place as the women undergo their own particular canal change (sea change!)
This read was whimsical, deep, and slow moving like the canals, and I flowed along with it as the women learned more about themselves, as they interacted with each other, (they are total opposites) and with the very different people they encounter. All the while Anastasia is the anchor, the pivot point around whom they all flow and eddy.
This just might become one of my favorite reads of 2021 as it invoked calm into the happenstances Eve and Sally are challenged by. A certain mindfulness is at play.
I loved the talented Trompette and the mysterious Arthur.
I felt liked I'd stepped back in time. I hadn't! I'd stepped away from the rat race. Even the lyrical cover reflects a different world. One could conceive that all the characters are lost and adrift but that's far from the truth. Their truths are so much more at once complex and yet sanely simple. Beautifully paced!
A Flatiron ARC via NetGalley
I so enjoyed Narrowboat Summer. A very different read. A story to savor. A quiet winner. Three women meet on a tow path just out of London and for two their lives change forever.
A fabulous cast of eccentric characters and two middle aged women. Sally had just walked out on her
Show More
marriage and Eve had been let go from her job as an engineer.Walking from different directions along the tow path the women happen to intersect with each other and Anastasia, a hardened canal boat owner who’s worked the canals and locks for years.
Eve and Sally find themselves deciding to help Anastasia out of a problem, crewing on her narrowboat The Number One, learning the locks and the rhythms of the river, before taking it to a boatyard at Chester whilst Anastasia took care of some health needs. This was the start of a journey measured in days not hours, a journey of the soul.
And that's what drew me on! The people, the rhythms, the slow winding down and calming that takes place as the women undergo their own particular canal change (sea change!)
This read was whimsical, deep, and slow moving like the canals, and I flowed along with it as the women learned more about themselves, as they interacted with each other, (they are total opposites) and with the very different people they encounter. All the while Anastasia is the anchor, the pivot point around whom they all flow and eddy.
This just might become one of my favorite reads of 2021 as it invoked calm into the happenstances Eve and Sally are challenged by. A certain mindfulness is at play.
I loved the talented Trompette and the mysterious Arthur.
I felt liked I'd stepped back in time. I hadn't! I'd stepped away from the rat race. Even the lyrical cover reflects a different world. One could conceive that all the characters are lost and adrift but that's far from the truth. Their truths are so much more at once complex and yet sanely simple. Beautifully paced!
A Flatiron ARC via NetGalley
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
When you want change or change is forced upon you, be open to what could be serendipitous events. When Eve, age 31, lost her job and met Sally, who had already raised a family in front of a narrowboat where a howling dog made them break into the boat to save the dog. Noah, the dog, was fine, but
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when Anastasia, the elderly owner of the boat needs lung surgery and asks the two neophytes to take her boat to get repairs made. Eve and Sally agree to it, and thus begins a very hopeful story with three quite different main characters. The additional characters add richness to the story. At the end, the reader knows what makes a strong friendship and learning to rely upon others. Its also a fun look at what living on a narrowboat in British canals is like. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mnpose
This is a very gentle read and I mean that in the best possible way.
Dear Anne Youngson, I would like to officially request a book two. I really hated to leave this group of friends.
Dear Anne Youngson, I would like to officially request a book two. I really hated to leave this group of friends.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
3.5***
Original (UK) title: Three Women and a Boat
Eve has recently been let go from her high-powered job and is struggling with what to do next. Sally has decided that her marriage isn’t working for her, and she wants to leave it … at least for a while. The two happen to be walking on the same
This was a charming coming-of-middle-age book. As Eve and Sally help out Anastasia by taking the boat through a series of canals and locks to dry dock for servicing, they get know one another and, more importantly, themselves. They meet the many other people who live on the canals, most of whom know Anastasia, virtually all of whom are willing to lend a hand when needed.
I’m not sure this would be the life for me, but I sure enjoyed spending some time with them, and imaging myself lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of waves, or feeling the sun on my skin as we gently moved through the canals.
Original (UK) title: Three Women and a Boat
Eve has recently been let go from her high-powered job and is struggling with what to do next. Sally has decided that her marriage isn’t working for her, and she wants to leave it … at least for a while. The two happen to be walking on the same
Show More
towpath when they meet Anastasia, the elderly owner of The Number One, and the rather anxious dog, Noah, who lives aboard the narrowboat with her. Serendipity? Chance? Fate?This was a charming coming-of-middle-age book. As Eve and Sally help out Anastasia by taking the boat through a series of canals and locks to dry dock for servicing, they get know one another and, more importantly, themselves. They meet the many other people who live on the canals, most of whom know Anastasia, virtually all of whom are willing to lend a hand when needed.
I’m not sure this would be the life for me, but I sure enjoyed spending some time with them, and imaging myself lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of waves, or feeling the sun on my skin as we gently moved through the canals.
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LibraryThing member FerneMysteryReader
Eve Warburton and Sally Allsop didn’t usually walk on the towpath, but today was different. Strangers to one another, soon to pass as they walked in opposite directions. However, they couldn’t help but talk to one another, questioning ear-splitting noise from a narrowboat they were about to
Browsing on my Kindle, I was drawn to pause to enjoy the beautiful watercolor of the designed book cover that welcomed thoughts of summer on a narrowboat. As I wondered what the story might be, I added the title to my tbr list without reading the description. I later realized that I had read the author’s debut novel, “Meet Me at the Museum,” and I was even more excited to read the book. I loved this story, too, for entirely different reasons.
As the 3 women embark on the following weeks of their lives, the reader discovers more about their past life experiences and relationships simultaneous to moving forward. It is a story of friendship but so much more. It brings to life the questions women ask themselves instigated by a life-threatening diagnosis, or the loss of a job, or the boredom of routine as the remains of an empty nest might not be enough. It is the strength and courage to embrace change. It is trusting another to speak freely, to listen and reply unfiltered, even if the conversation sometimes ends abruptly.
With atmospheric writing, the reader is showered with the intricacies of living on a narrowboat, from the work of traversing the canal locks of England to experiences along the way from the beauty of nature to meeting other boat owners to shopping in small towns for groceries, or for the change of eating a meal at a pub.
A well-written story, beautifully simple, and beautifully complex. I didn’t want the journey to end. I hope my review entices you to step onto Anatasia’s narrowboat.
Discussion Questions are available at the end of the novel.
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pass as it was parked on the side of the canal. After the noise, sitting together and discussing their actions of spontaneity, the boat owner returns. Eve and Sally learn her name is Anastasia, and the name of the noise now missing is Noah. Waiting for Noah, Anatasia, Eve, and Sally have tea together on “Number One.” Tea and conversation. A conversation that leads to Anatasia’s proposal. A proposal that changes all their lives. Easy.Browsing on my Kindle, I was drawn to pause to enjoy the beautiful watercolor of the designed book cover that welcomed thoughts of summer on a narrowboat. As I wondered what the story might be, I added the title to my tbr list without reading the description. I later realized that I had read the author’s debut novel, “Meet Me at the Museum,” and I was even more excited to read the book. I loved this story, too, for entirely different reasons.
As the 3 women embark on the following weeks of their lives, the reader discovers more about their past life experiences and relationships simultaneous to moving forward. It is a story of friendship but so much more. It brings to life the questions women ask themselves instigated by a life-threatening diagnosis, or the loss of a job, or the boredom of routine as the remains of an empty nest might not be enough. It is the strength and courage to embrace change. It is trusting another to speak freely, to listen and reply unfiltered, even if the conversation sometimes ends abruptly.
With atmospheric writing, the reader is showered with the intricacies of living on a narrowboat, from the work of traversing the canal locks of England to experiences along the way from the beauty of nature to meeting other boat owners to shopping in small towns for groceries, or for the change of eating a meal at a pub.
A well-written story, beautifully simple, and beautifully complex. I didn’t want the journey to end. I hope my review entices you to step onto Anatasia’s narrowboat.
Discussion Questions are available at the end of the novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
Original title in Britain was "Narrowboat Summer" but because most North Americans wouldn't know what a narrowboat is, it was renamed for release in America. But this Canadian has a husband who is addicted to YouTube videos and watched the adventures of narrowboats on the canals of England for
Unfortunately, the fact that this vessel was a narrowboat played a very small part in the book. The rest was women finding that they are stronger than they thought, with a neat tied-up-in-a-bow ending. Not my thing. If it's yours, there are far worse places to read about it than on a pleasure craft on an English canal.
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close to a year. It was, in fact, the connection to Narrowboats that drew me to the book.Unfortunately, the fact that this vessel was a narrowboat played a very small part in the book. The rest was women finding that they are stronger than they thought, with a neat tied-up-in-a-bow ending. Not my thing. If it's yours, there are far worse places to read about it than on a pleasure craft on an English canal.
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LibraryThing member ritaer
Two women who are alike only in having a sudden change in their lives meet while wondering what to do about an apparently distressed dog on a tied up narrowboat. When the owner returns they become acquainted and are asked to take the boat for needed repairs while the owner has medical tests and
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possible surgery. Doing so gives them an opportunity to reflect on their futures. Descriptions of the narrowboat community, both those who live on the boats and those who rent them for holidays. Show Less
Pages
336
ISBN
1250764610 / 9781250764614