At 86 years old Veronica is the epitome of stubborn and humourless. She leads a life where everything must be just so, although it is down to her long-suffering 'daily', Eileen, to achieve this for her. With no children other than a now deceased son that was adopted out shortly after his birth, Veronica realises that at her age she should be considering what to do with her considerable fortune. With Eileen's help she discovers that the son she didn't know also had a son, Patrick, and Veronica decides to meet him. Patrick is not at all what Veronica is expecting and their brief meeting leaves them both feeling disappointed. Searching for a new outlet to devote her life and money to, Veronica turns her full attention to the plight of a dwindling population of Adelie penguins on a remote and inhospitable island in the Antarctic that she has been following in a nature documentary series on television.

This was the point at which the story switched from being enjoyable to being thoroughly entertaining and engaging. We switch from Veronica's excursion to visit the penguins, depositing herself into the lives of the three horrified resident scientists on the island, and Patrick's humdrum, unfulfilling existence in Bolton as he tries to recover from his girlfriend suddenly leaving him for another man. Much of Veronica's back story is given to us through the journals she wrote as a teenager in war-torn Britain and which she gave to Patrick to read.

This is without doubt the sweetest, most charming book I have read this year. It has made me cry and it has made me laugh out loud. And now that I've finished it, even though it concluded perfectly, I am feeling a little bereft because I want to know more about what the future holds for Veronica, Patrick, the scientists and, of course, Pip the penguin!

My one criticism is that the final scene is completely superfluous. It doesn't detract from the story, but it does distract without adding anything.

I liked this story. I’ll confess to a fondness of penguins and this story features hundreds of them!

Veronica is an old lady. Cantankerous and stubborn, but with secrets in her past.

Patrick is a young man, down on his luck who seems to have lost his way.

This endearing book links the two main characters with penguins, scientists, friends and a dollop of historical backstory.

I didn’t feel we needed the end chapter (it didn’t add anything for me) but the rest of the story trundles alone nicely. It’s not a fast paced page turner, but I did want to find out what happened to all of the characters and I enjoyed the authors writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.