We meet Evie Gallagher when she is in the care home. Recently widowed she hastily decides that she belongs in the care home and her son and daughter are relieved that they have not got the responsibility of her. Evie realises that she still has a lot of life to live and she will not be able to live it in the care home.so she walks out.
The adventures Evie has after her escape are both heartwarming and funny and proof that she still has a lot to offer the world.
I really enjoyed this book and didn't want it to end and Evie makes for a very inspirational hero

A happy light-hearted read with some wonderful laugh out loud moments. I really enjoyed this book

I will admit that I started this book not quite sure if it would be “me”. I’m 62, not 75 and the world of nursing homes is my mother’s territory, not mine. But Evie was such a great character that she won me over in the first few pages, an Irish mammy with wit and charm, and a total disregard for convention – the initial visit from son Brendan and his dragon-lady wife Maura was just fantastically written, and when Evie gathered together her essentials and decided to run, I found myself enthusiastically cheering her on.

Her journey from that point on is absolutely wonderful, the people who cross her path all individually and perfectly drawn – many of them are on their own journeys too, trying to find their way, and Evie has her part to play in each of their stories. Journeys are a bit of a theme really. Brendan and Maura, following in hot pursuit, have rather lost their way – Brendan over-obsessed with a fellow teacher and unhappy with his lot, Maura cold and brittle, their marriage falling apart through neglect.

I can’t tell you how the story turns out – it needs to be the reader’s journey too – but 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. The themes of never too late, second chances, finding joy in the little things and the complexities of marriage and family were so beautifully done, and this lovely book was everything I wanted it to be, and more. I have my role model for when I reach 75 and put on my own red beret – Evie, I loved you, and hope you have a long and happy future.

A GRAND OLD TIME
Judy Leigh

Good on you, Evie Gallagher ! Her story moves, at a spanking rate, through three literary genres. It starts in “pensioner emancipation” mode when Evie, “bereaved, bored and going barmy” makes a break from her residential home in Dublin where “the soothing music told the residents they were in a caring environment.”

A lucky bet in her first hours of freedom funds the ferry crossing to Liverpool where a mugging and a radical makeover complete Evie's liberation and her story moves into the “French grass is greener” mode, as she takes a second ferry across to Brittany and then heads south. Meanwhile the care home contacts Evie's only son, the inadequate Brendan, who takes off in pursuit, dragging his grudging wife Maura in tow.

France, naturally, weaves her seductive spell on all three in ways they don't expect. Evie graduates to an elderly campervan and heads south for Carcassonne and the sun, driving erratically through several wine regions, before landing up – thanks to an alchoholic spree – in an Irish bar just north of the Pyrenees. As to that seductive spell, author Judy Leigh can't help describing Evie's journey in so much loving detail that you can trace the route in a road atlas ~ Roscoff to the Crozon peninsula in Brittany, south to Angers and on to Limousin, Bergerac and Marmande ~ and the food and drink on the way come off the page in true Peter Mayle style.

Evie keeps Brendan and Maura on the chase (mapped out in similar detail, meals and all) by sending a string of phone messages in Franglais, so that what began as a weekend trip to fetch her home stretches out further, as their lacklustre marriage is also stretched to the limit and Brendan struggles to find “Caucasians” and “Foykes” with more of an effort than he or Maura put in to finding where the pair of them lost touch with each other. Finally, in a vineyard “two kilometres outside Saint-Girons on the road to Foix”, the full cast meets up for the final act.

And so the Odyssey morphs into the third mode, echoing a Rosamund Pilcher narrative of people rediscovering themselves and their relationships. “Brendan frowned; he was not used to a conversation like this. His father had talked to him about sport and what was in the newspapers, but never love.” Without giving away anything of the plot or its outcome, French bonhomie, joie de vivre and je ne sais quoi are skilfully blended with equal doses of Irish craic, Irish recalcitrance and Irish puritanism to – in the end – produce a happy ending that might just be the start of a new chapter.

There you are, then, three books in one, lots of laughs on the way and a great summer read into the bargain. Can't be bad, can it ?

Nigel Melville (This review originally appeared in the Chesil Magazine, Dorset)

Evie is 75 and living in a care home near Dublin. Her son, Brendan and daughter in law, Maura visit dutifully every week and see her decline into forgetfulness and confusion. But Evie is not what she seems, it is an act to fool the staff at the home. She's not ready to join the ranks of the old and escapes to have an adventure.
I loved this book right from the beginning and couldn't wait to see what happened to Evie next. What follows is a delightful tale of love, relationships and what can happen when you decide that life is for living not giving up whatever your age.

The parallel stories of Evie and her son Brendan and his marriage to Maura.
Evie runs away from a retirement home and decides to go travelling, eventually buying a motorhome and travelling around France. Brendan and Maura decide to make a holiday out of bringing mammy back.
This was a gentle tale but to enjoy it you had to completely suspend reality, so I was a bit conflicted. I enjoyed the reading of the novel, but afterwards thought 'it would never happen'! How could a 70+ lady go from staring vacantly in a home, to travelling around France, eventually running a vineyard. Worse, Brendan thinks he can bring her home, even though he has no idea where she is and he and Maura are on the verge of divorce, yet somehow are blissfully happy by the end of it. Mmmm

DNF - dumped at a ridiculously early stage. The only audience I can imagine for this is a select few who think it arousing when old people swear. That, my reader, is not what whimsy means.

What a wonderful story of a woman finding a whole new lease of life in her later years. A book that shows you are never too old to change your life round and the world is your oyster.

A light-hearted romp at a care home. Obvious lessons to be learned, road trips and funny moments. Did find myself skipping pages.

I really couldn’t engage with the characters in this book. I haven’t finished it so maybe it will improve.

A book of two halves. Actually quite thought provoking about when is the time for people to go into care.

A Grand Old Time by Judy Leigh is a really fun contemporary novel that will have you in stitches. It debunks all the myths about seventy five year olds being 'over the hill'. Life is for living, no matter how old you are.
The main theme is carpe diem - we are a long time dead - so seize the day and do something different. Begin to live again. Do not wait around for the future, grab the present with both hands and try something new.
Judy Leigh has created a marvellous lead character in the form of seventy five year old Evie. She is fun. She is mischievous. She is brave. She is not content to live out her days in an old people's home that was "sucking the soul out of me." Evie shows how to grow old disgracefully. Life is an adventure to be had.
There are two stories running parallel as the reader soon becomes acquainted with Evie's son Brendan. The cruel irony is there is more life in Evie than in Brendan. His staid life contrasts sharply with her life that is lived in colour.
Life is what we make it. We can choose to live each day or we can wallow in despair. The choice is ours. It is never too late to begin again.
I loved A Grand Old Time. It was fun. I 'lived' the novel with Evie. She had an air of joie de vrie about her and was really fun to be around.
A pure escapist novel that I could not put down.
I received this book for free from Net Galley. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

This was a pleasant read, engaging enough to want to keep reading. The storyline is a bit predictable but that doesn't matter at all. Lovely holiday read!

What an absolutely charming book this is. We meet Evie in Sheldon Lodge - a care home where she is unhappy. She makes a bid for freedom and what follows is a real rip tide of an adventure for anyone let alone a 75 year old. Don't get me wrong I don't think 75 is old but the life Evie has led has been a little sheltered and so for her to embark on any journey let alone one on her own is inspiring to say the least.

When Evie had a few knocks at the beginning I feared this was not going to be a good read, realistic yes, but not enjoyable. However, that soon changed and I was routing all the way for Evie in her camper van. Most of all I loved all the little white lies (well some big lies really) that she told all she encountered, police officers included - daring of her, which I feel comes with age and nothing to lose.

Meanwhile Evie has a son Brendan and he has his own unhappy life - married to Maura and stuck in a job he doesn't love. He and his wife take off to rescue Evie and have their own adventure in the meantime, as they never quite manage to catch up to Evie's last location.

I loved the descriptive writing, it was a little escapism and at times with great sadness but I adored it all the same.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley and Avon books for an advance copy for review.

This reminds me a little of a senior version of Ferris Beuller's Day Off. A 75-year-old woman is bored with life at a retirement home and regrets getting talked into selling her house and moving into the facility. One day she takes her purse and cards and wanders out for a day in the city of Dublin for a change of scene.

Her adventures start pretty quickly. She buys a hat and coat to change her image and falls into 'interesting' company who leads her into trying things she has never done before, like gambling. It all escalates from there and becomes a fascinating journey with many twists and turns, sometimes relying on the luck of the Irish in ways that nudge belief a little far.

I like Evie, the main character. I also like that she was an older character and brought both life experience and attitude to her role. There were a lot of surprises in her story and I enjoyed the read for the most part. I thought a secondary storyline about her son and his wife was drawn out a little too long in the later chapters. I started out not liking Maura and ended not thinking much of Brendan either, but they did add some comic relief to the story.

The later part of the story settled into predictability but I'm glad all the loose ends were tied up. The majority of the tale was great fun and appealed to my sense of rebellion and the sort of old lady I aspire to be when the time comes.

Wow I loved this book and I’m so glad I read it, not my usual choice but what a read it was! Evie is 75 and on a mission, to escape the mundane existence she has in an awful nursing home and goes off on an adventure finding love along the way along with many other life lessons and dramas! Seriously I hope I’m just like E ie when I’m her age.

A wonderful read full of lots of laughs, sadness and joy. You could t want for more in a book really. Evie is an amazing character so witty and funny and serious sometimes too; such a zest for life she has and boy do we see this in the book

5 massive stars can’t wait to read more from the author!!!!

I loved, loved, loved this book. I couldn’t help laughing aloud or telling my friends ( or indeed anyone who would listen) about it. The plot is here for an excellent film. I laughed each time her son missed catching her up on her merry trip and felt like shouting ‘ Good on you girl’ as she escaped from the old peoples’ home. So many times I thought she would be taken advantage of in her naive wanderings that I could just not put the book down! It deserves far more than 5 starts! An excellent read.

An amusing story.....good fun but a little far fetched!
75 year old Evie is in a care home but decides that if she stays there she will soon be dead so, without telling anyone, she walks out and then life begins for Evie!
Her son and daughter in law (who have problems of their own) go searching for her and find her living very happily,with a man in rural France and helping run his wine business.
Obviously, like so many amusing, feel good storys this one ends up with all the story lines neatly tied up. Enjoy.

There are times when you read a novel, and the characters come leaping off the page and into your mind, they are so recognizable. This is such a novel.
Evie Gallagher has been moved into a care home in Ireland, really against her will. She decides, that despite her son and daughter-in-law's best wishes, she will break out and have a final adventure. First she wins rather a lot of money on a horse, then she flies to Liverpool, buys a campervan and goes to France in search of adventure.
She meets a man who intrigues her, and eventually falls in deep love with. He owns a distillery for fine wine, and she decides to stay with him, and help him to improve the winery. Meanwhile, her son Brendan and his wife Maura are travelling around France looking for her.
Ther are two huge, but believable twist in the plot, but this book is absolute triumph. The plot is plausible, funny and tragic by turns, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read it.

A great affirmation that life can begin at 75!
At 75 years of age, Evie has moved into Sheldon Lodge. She was transfixed by the Christmas lights and homeliness of it all as her family were selling her home after she became widowed. But now she’s realized she’s moved in far too early and she’s bored....and when she’s bored she gets mischievous. One morning, taking her purse with drivers licence, cheque card and a mobile her son gave her, Evie is ready for adventure.

I really enjoyed Evie and her experiences (no less because it’s what I would love to do one day in a little campervan myself). The descriptions of places and people she met while on her trip in France were quite vivid. Her son Brendan is worried about his mother and he and wife Maura travel to France to try and find her. Evie has been keeping in touch via text but she thinks they are back in England enjoying a summer holiday. Over time, this story becomes Brendan and wife Maura’s story as much as Evie’s and I loved that aspect, as they try and find a way through a stale marriage.

A thoroughly enjoyable story, about setting priorities in your life and that you are never too old for love.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC to read.