ABOUT THE BOOK
A late 30s The Wrong Knickers meets Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Eleanor finds herself in her late 30s on a beach in India with three old ladies, trying to ‘find herself’ and ‘discover her family history’ like some sad middle-class crisis cliché. How did she get here?
Truthfully, it could be for any one of the below reasons, if not all combined:
• Stepmum dying/Stepdad leaving – family falling apart, subsequent psychotic break; both parents now on third marriage
• Breaking up with J after 12 years – breaking up a whole life, a whole fucking universe – for reasons that may have been… misguided?
• New boyfriend moving in immediately, me insisting ‘it’s not a rebound!’ even after everyone has stopped listening, being cited in his messy divorce, him being sectioned, then breaking up with me
• Going into therapy after dating a potentially violent, certainly threatening, narcissist (the most pertinent point of which should be noted: I did not break up with him – he ghosted me)
How to address this situation? Take a trip to India with your octogenarian nan and two great aunts of course. The perfect, if somewhat unusual, distraction from Eleanor’s ongoing crisis.
But the trip offers so much more than Eleanor could ever have hoped for.
Through the vivid and worldly older women in her life, she learns what it means to be staunch in the face of true adversity.
published by HQ
publication date – 19th March 2020
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon £11.99
hive.co.uk £10.49
whsmith £11.99
MY REVIEW
What better time to pick up a book about being ‘Staunch’ – overcoming things that are put in your way and finding a way to try and turn a negative into a positive – and for that reason alone I’m extremely glad that the shocking pink cover caught my eye and led me to read this inspiring memoir from Eleanor.
It’s about her struggles in the past and the way that she is choosing to deal with them – for many of us that would be tough but on a trip to India with her nan and her 2 sisters, she finds a new meaning to life and a new way to approach the world. She learns so much from her elder relatives and I think they could teach us all a thing or two about confidence! They were an inspiration and I loved to hear the stories they told about their lives – how they moved from India to find a new life in the UK.
Eleanor had really gone through some struggles in her life – depression, bad boyfriends, loneliness, drugs, and the fact you become more invisible the older you get! So this trip to India was her chance to start over – she needed a break from life – and time in a new country gave her the space to focus on herself in a new environment and be inspired by those around her. It takes a look at her family and the dynamics within which were really interesting and her relatives on the trip taught her to laugh again!
It was really easy to read and the pages flew by as I got engrossed in her adventures. She talks about how therapy helped her too and I found it a really good read.
★★★★
Books and Me! 
Fab review xx
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thank you xx
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