Beth O'Leary's novel The Switch (#965) is entertaining chick lit with a twist; we have two heroines to root for, and they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Leena is an up-and-coming star in her London Consultancy Firm except for one major problem - she had a full-blown panic attack in the middle of an important presentation resulting in a mandatory leave for her. Eileen, on the other hand, is at seventy-nine just getting used to being the abandoned wife and the center of gossip in her small Yorkshire village. She also happens to be Leena's grandmother. When Leena proposes that the two swap their lives for two months - Eileen looking for romance in the big city where the pickings are bound to be better, and Leena taking over her grandmother's volunteer duties in Hamleigh-in-Harksdale, what could possibly go wrong, or be more stressful than their current situations?
Well, as it turns out, plenty! The narration switches back and forth between Eileen and Leena as each see's the other's life with new eyes and understanding. There are adventures, romance, mistakes and plenty of fence-mending as each woman picks her way carefully through the unknown minefields in both London and Hamleigh while trying to come to grips with a major loss in their lives.
It's wonderfully told, and Ms. O'Leary manages to make both her main characters creditable. How she knows so much about the senior mindset is a mystery to me, but she makes it work. Now I can't wait to go back and read her first novel, The Flatshare!
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