A Grand Old Time

By: Judy Leigh

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

‘Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting’ Miranda Dickinson

A funny and heartwarming debut for fans of Celia Imrie and Dawn French.

Evie Gallagher is regretting her hasty move into a care home. She may be seventy-five and recently widowed, but she’s absolutely not dead yet. And so, one morning, Evie walks out of Sheldon Lodge and sets off on a Great Adventure across Europe.

But not everyone thinks Great Adventures are appropriate for women of Evie’s age, least of all her son Brendan and his wife Maura, who follow a trail of puzzling text messages to bring her home.

When they finally catch up with her, there are shocks in store . . . because while Brendan may have given up on life and love, Evie certainly has not.

'Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy' Cathy Hopkins, bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List

’Brimming with warmth, humour and a love of life… a wonderful escapade’ Fiona Gibson, bestselling author of The Woman Who Upped and Left

‘I absolutely loved everything about this book… 5* out of 5*’ The Ginger Book Geek

‘By its end I’d laughed, cringed, felt really concerned, giggled, cried (rather a lot) and emerged into the rosier future with a heart broken, mended, and singing with joy’ Being Anne

‘5 stars! I Loved Evie . . . She has a Passion and Zest for life… I want to go travelling with her! . . . If you read one book that is a little different this month let it be A Grand Old Time! You won't regret It!’ Dash Fan

Critic reviews

‘Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting’ Miranda Dickinson

'Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy' Cathy Hopkins, bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List

’Brimming with warmth, humour and a love of life… a wonderful escapade’ Fiona Gibson, bestselling author of The Mum Who Got Her Life Back

Male character spoils the story

This could have been a really good book. The narrator is excellent. The main character’s son is absolutely pathetic and the relationship between the son and wife seems very unrealistic. The story became very tedious and I couldn’t wait for it to just end. I wish the focus would’ve stayed on the main character and her different adventures and experiences.

Lovely story

This was a really beautiful story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I also love Aoife McMahons voice

Taking a risk at an older age

This audible was all good . Inspiring loved the traveling adventure and the problem solving by both generations

Male lead character needs shaking!

The main storyline of this book was a 75 yo widow rediscovering life after embarking on a road trip through France in a camper van. However, a good portion of the story was about her only son & daughter-in-law and their flagging marriage. This book is like another written by the author around this time, where so much of the book is taken up with internal dialogue & ruminating - in this instance by the son. It gets very tedious. I have 11 Judy Leigh books in my library, most I absolutely love, but this one is not a fav.

So hard to finish

This book was awful…only finished because it was for a book club. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone.