Two years ago, looking for something easy to read after a tree root tripped me up landing me with a nasty headache, I picked up Anne Youngson’s first novel, Meet Me at the Museum, having previously dismissed it thinking it looked too schmaltzy for me. It turned out to be one of the best books I read that year. Unsurprisingly, then, hopes were high for Three Women and a Boat. Youngson’s second novel unites three very different women – each unknown to the other when it begins, each at a difficult stage in their lives – and takes them on a journey.
Having told her husband that she’s leaving him, Sally is walking along the canal towpath not far from her house in Uxbridge. In the opposite direction walks Eve, sacked that morning from her project manager job at an engineering firm. As these two converge, an unholy racket emanates from a narrowboat. After a brief discussion, they identify the noise as a dog, possibly in distress. Eve breaks in and Noah dashes out just as his owner, Anastasia, arrives. By the time they’ve finished their coffee on board the Number One, Eve and Sally have agreed to take the boat from Uxbridge to Chester for repairs while Anastasia has a tumour removed. Preparations are made, training given and Anastasia installed in Eve’s flat before Eve and Sally, narrowboat novices both, set off with Noah on board. As they navigate their four-month journey, telling each other their stories, bumping into people with fond memories of the taciturn, brusque woman they’ve left in Uxbridge and forming friendships with some of them, each of them changes, sometimes in unexpected ways.
As so many disappointed debut-readers know, second novels often fall flat. I was a little apprehensive that this one might, too, given the premise which felt a wee bit improbable to me for the first few pages but then it took off and I found myself loving it. Youngson explores themes of interconnectedness, the possibility of transformation and kindness with wit and thoughtfulness through a very pleasing cast of characters, particularly apt for this strange pandemic year. Eve and Sally are the antithesis of each other: one caught up in a successful career, relishing living alone, until suddenly it stops; the other living a life in which she feels stuck, constantly fulfilling everyone else’s needs. It would have been be easy for both to become stereotypical single career woman v. wife characters but Youngson is much too skilled for that, depicting both women with perception and warmth. Her novel is also a love letter to storytelling and canals, both rolled together in Billy’s star turns on the evening towpath holding his audience spellbound with tall tales and history. How lovely to read a second novel that lives up to the promise of the first.
Doubleday: London 9780857527097 336 pages Hardback
This sounds great. And the first one!
It’s the perfect book for out current predicament, very cheering. Glad to hear you like the sound of Meet Me At the Museum, too.
That’s a relief! I loved the first one. The premise of this rather reminds me of Leila Abouela’s Bird Summons which I read earlier this year and really enjoyed – three women on a roadtrip.
That second novel syndrome is always a worry isn’t it. Thanks for the recommendation, Annabel. I’d not come across the Abouela before.
This sounds like a perfect comfort read and I mean that in the best way!
It absolutely is, Cathy!
I’ve still to read her debut and this sounds good too.
Both highly recommended, Helen
Since I love Three Men in a Boat I’m sorely tempted by this one…
It’s so long since I read that, I’m not sure how close the comparison would be but don’t let that put you off!
Phew – I read your post with much trepidation because of ‘second-book-syndrome’. So pleased it has a happy ending!
Me, too! You can approach it safely, Liz
This sounds lovely, I have always had a deep affection for canals.
I think you’d love this, then, particulalry the storytelling sections. It’s also a very cheering read which I suspect we’ll all be in need of this winter.
This wouldn’t normally sound like my kind of read at all, but you’ve made it very tempting Susan! And like Ali, I’m very fond of canals 🙂
Lots of canal lore woven through this one together with a pleasing theme of friendship and cooperation. I hope you enjoy it if you get around to it.
It sounds like I better add this author to my list. Like Cathy said, she sounds perfect for a good comfort read!
Definitely what we all need right now!
Another excellent review Susan. Luckily this time I have the book waiting to be read, so I will push to the next one after my current reads.
Thank you, Janet. I hope you love it as much as I did.
I read Anne Youngson’s debut just this year actual, on a whim, and it was a gem of a read. I’m happy to have read such a positive review of her second novel by you, and I’ll definitely have an eye out for this title. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy this one as much as Meet Me at the Museum.
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