This program is read by British actors Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones, star of Hulu's Normal People.
A grandmother and granddaughter swap lives in The Switch, a charming, romantic novel by Beth O’Leary, who has been hailed as “the new Jojo Moyes” (Cosmopolitan UK)...
When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some long-overdue rest.
Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.
So they decide to try a two-month swap.
Eileen will live in London and look for love. She’ll take Leena’s flat, and learn all about casual dating, swiping right, and city neighbors. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire: Eileen’s sweet cottage and garden, her idyllic, quiet village, and her little neighborhood projects.
But stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves…and maybe even find true love? In Beth O'Leary's The Switch, it's never too late to change everything....or to find yourself.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
Review
As soon as I read that Alison Steadman was going to be reading one of the parts I knew I would love it, as she's one of my favourite actors. I wasn't disappointed, she was superb at bringing to life Eileen aged 79. As was the actor that read the part of Leena. My only slight disappointment is that when they read the parts of the supporting actors, there was obviously a change in the voice. So when I had gotten used to Eileen's Felix, when Leena spoke of him I thought "that's not Felix!".
As Eileen and Leena swap lives they bring so much to the people that surround them. From the lovely Letitia in London who had been so lonely to the grump Ronald who Leena makes not grumpy at all. The book is told from the alternate points of view of Eileen and Leena. With it being an audio book there was no mistaking which character was reading, but also the name was announced at the beginning of each chapter.
Part way through the book Eileen thinks she needs to go back to Yorkshire and I was beside myself, she couldn't go back, I needed to know what was going to become of her projects and new friends. Unfortunately the eight weeks whizzed by and the time for the swap does come to an end.
I loved how Eileen stands no nonsense, and when one of the 30 somethings is about to send email to someone in the same building, Eileen tells him "there will be none of this email nonsense, face to face it is". I could feel the look of shock on his face as he contemplated actually speaking to someone. Meanwhile Leena in Yorkshire is having to win over the villagers and her project manager skills aren't all that much help.
Behind all of this we learn that Leena's sister Carla passed away. Everyone has been dealing with it in different ways, not entirely successfully. This is the deeper side of the book and it was dealt with so sensitively and the emotion in the actor's voices really brought it to life.
Whilst I am not sure I would re read this book I would love to listen to the audio again. I am already missing Eileen and Leena and their friends so much.
I'm giving this audio book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for the audio to review.
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