Blog Tour – The Silver Ladies Do Lunch by Judy Leigh @judyleighwriter @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks #BlogTour #BookBlogger #boldwoodbloggers #BookReview #TheSilverLadiesDoLunch

For me, it’s always a treat to be invited onto a blog tour for a book by Judy Leigh, no matter which of her aliases she’s using. Her writing is smart, sassy, and totally in tune with her readers. More importantly, to me, she is a pioneer for there being life in an older protagonist. If you’d like to read some of my earlier reviews, you can click these links: Chasing the Sun and The Golden Oldies Book Club.

My thanks to Rachel Gilbey of Rachel’s Random Resources for organising and inviting me onto this fabulous tour, and to Boldwood Books for my digital arc copy, gifted to me via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review. You can read my thoughts below.

Synopsis

When Lin, Josie and Minnie left Miss Hamilton’s class at Middleton Ferris County Primary School, sixty years ago, they could only dream about what the future had in store for them. The one thing they knew for certain was that their friendship would thrive.

Years later and life hasn’t always been kind. Josie is still mourning the loss of her beloved husband Harry a year after his sudden demise. Lin is hoping to celebrate her fiftieth wedding anniversary with husband Neil, but he’s suddenly keeping secrets and telling her lies, so she’s suspecting the worst And as for Minnie, well she loves her life in Oxford academia, but with no family to call her own, she sometimes wonders if the sacrifices were all worthwhile.

So, when the ninety-year-old Miss Hamilton – or Cecily as she lets them call her now – glides gracefully back into their lives on her glamorous purple mobility scooter, the ladies are in need of inspiration and fun. And over their regular lunches, the friends start to dream of leaving the past in the past and embracing the future, because there’s nothing you can’t achieve with good friends at your side.

Purchase Link

Review

I loved the premise of this book. As someone who has managed to keep friendships from my schooldays, this really resonated with me. I particularly loved the idea that because of living in the same village where they grew up, the friends also knew the boys from their school days.

Our main characters, Josie, Lin, and Minnie were firm friends despite Minnie having later attended the grammar school, reaching her potential and moving to Oxford. She’s single but has an amazing power over men, having them fall in love with her too easily. It’s a shame that she’s not interested in a long-term relationship.

Meeting regularly for lunch, the three friends are thrilled when their former teacher, Miss Hamilton, ‘call me Cecily’, moves back to the village and joins their friendship group. We learn that Josie has been a widow for just 12 months, and Lin is looking forward to celebrating her golden wedding anniversary, with husband Neil. If only he wasn’t acting suspiciously.

I’m not surprised, at all, by the fact that I loved this delightful book. There’s something rather special about Judy’s writing, and the way she can weave a seemingly effortless story is testament to her undeniable skillset.

The characters were all beautifully developed and I took to them all. That said, I had a real soft spot for Lin and found myself hoping that her suspicions about Neil would be misplaced. For me, the loveliest storyline surrounded Florence and her growing pregnancy. The way the characters gathered to support her was beautiful, and exactly the right tone for a book in this century.

If you’ve not read anything by Judy Leigh in the past, then this is a great book to begin with. There’s certainly plenty of life left in these Silver Ladies and also in their silver beaus.

Author Bio

Judy Leigh is the USA Today bestselling author of The Old Girls’ Network and Five French Hens and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.