Amazing Grace Adams

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Synopsis

Grace Adams gave birth, blinked and now suddenly she is forty-five, perimenopausal and stalled—the unhappiest age you can be, according to the Guardian. And today she’s really losing it. Stuck in traffic, she finally has had enough. To the astonishment of everyone, Grace gets out of her car and simply walks away.

Grace sets off across London, armed with a £200 cake, to win back her estranged teenage daughter on her 16th birthday. Because today is the day she’ll remind her daughter that no matter how far we fall, we can always get back up again. Because Grace Adams used to be amazing. Her husband thought so. Her daughter thought so. Even Grace thought so. But everyone seems to have forgotten. Grace is about to remind them …and, most importantly, remind herself.

Synopsis source: Goodreads

Review

Genre(s): Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
HB&W Rating: 3.5
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I was so invested in this book because as a middle age woman I could relate with Grace on many levels. It was an emotional read for me, for sure. The author did a great job of pulling on the threads of worry affecting us at this stage of our lives, which had my heart in my throat a lot of the book.

I liked the metaphor of the journey Grace took in the present timeline as she tried to get to her daughter and loved the way the author illustrated the complexity of motherhood and relationships. That said, I was a bit unhappy with the way the book ended. The ending didn’t quite align with what I had expected from reading the synopsis and that left me disappointed and unsatisfied. I would have liked there to have been more resolution on the marriage relationship. It seemed like there was a focus on both Grace’s relationship with Lotte and with Ben in equal measure throughout the book but at the end, I felt that the plot with Lotte was the only one to be really resolved. Comparatively, they way things were resolved with her and Ben felt less-than, an afterthought.

I also had a hard time listening to all the timelines as they jumped around with separate flashbacks and emails/DMs thrown in to further throw me off. This may have been easier to follow in a written version over the audio. Still, the audio narration was really good and Claire Skinner did a great job.

It was an interesting listen and would certainly make for a great book club discussion, if you’re looking for a new book club pick.

Until next time,

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