5* review - The Woman Who Upped and Left by Fiona Gibson

Available HERE from Amazon.co.uk

Forget about having it all. Sometimes you just want to leave it all behind.

Audrey is often seized by the urge to walk out of her house without looking back – but she can’t possibly do that.

She is a single parent. She is needed. She has a job, a home, responsibilities…and a slothful teenage son’s pants to pick up.

But no one likes being taken for granted – Audrey least of all – so the time has come for drastic action. And no one’s going to stand in her way…

I absolutely loved the latest offering from Gibson, I am a huge fan of her older books but this is undoubtedly my favourite. 

Audrey Pepper (nee Hepburn) always knew her name was too special for her. She had a really sad childhood and always had to be the adult, taking care of everyone else, a trait which she never really grew out of as she always felt she was looking after someone - and there was no one to care for her.

When we first meet Audrey she is casually seeing Steve, a friend with very few benefits other than the odd stop over at a motorway service station. Then her fortunes seem to change as she wins the Dinner Lady of the Year competition with a choice of two prizes that are not life changing in their own rights, but have the potential to be in other ways...

She decides that she is sick of serving everyone else and picking up dirty pants from the living room floor - it is time to do something for her! 

I love all the relationships that Audrey has, with her eighteen year old son, Morgan, who is lazy, slobbish and appears quite selfish (typical teenage boy!) but underneath really does have a caring side...very deeply hidden. I love her job as a carer for Mrs. B - that was a part of the plot that seemed really special, and the friends she makes along the way.

I think she is a character that most women and maybe some men will identify with at times - I know I certainly do! The scenarios she faces are so very real and I love the witty way she deals with them. I would love a friend like Aud! 

This book really entertained me and I read it far too quickly! I would highly recommend it for a light, feel good read!

Here are the lemon Madeleines I made from the recipes in the back of The Woman Who Upped and Left: Fiona Gibson's Madeleines