The Women Who Ran Away by Sheila O'Flanagan #Review

I was totally thrilled to be invited on to the blog tour for Sheila o'Flanagan's novel, The Women Who Ran Away. It was published on 16th July in hardback by Headline Review.

Two women form an unlikely friendship as they face up to shocking truths about the men they’ve loved - and take the reins on deciding their future. 

Deira is setting out on the holiday she’d planned with her long-term partner Gavin - only she’s on her own. Gavin will not be amused when he finds out she’s  ‘borrowed’  his  car,  but  since  their  brutal  break-up  Deira’s  not  been  acting rationally. Maybe a drive through beautiful France will help her see things differently.

Grace is also travelling alone, each stage of her journey outlined in advance by  her  late  husband.  Ken  was  head  of  the  household  when  he  was  alive,  and it seems he’s still in charge. His last decision was a surprise - could there be more surprises to come? There’s only one way to find out, galling though it is to dance again to Ken’s tune.

Thrown together by chance, Grace and Deira find that it’s easier to share secrets with a stranger, especially in the shimmering sunny countryside of Spain and France. But they soon find that there’s no escaping the truth, whether you’re running away from it or racing towards  it...

 A  life-affirming  new  novel  about  the  power  of  inter-generational  female  friendship  from  the  author  of  number  one  bestsellers  Her Husband’s Mistake, The Missing Wife and The Hideaway.

My Thoughts

I found this to be a fabulous read. I was hooked in on the journey with Deira and Grace and found their friendship to be a major part of the story for me. They had different life stories but both had ceded up a part of themselves to their partners. It is so refreshing to read a story with more mature protagonists. You are kept on the edge of your seta as to whether their friendship will survive the journey and I thought the stumbling way it evolved to be credible.

    If one person fascinated me in the story, it had to be Grace's absent husband, Ken, who I wanted to shake at times. Always seemingly in control, his final letter really threw a light on their relationship. The further the women travel, the more they have to face up to certain facts about themselves. Warm, uplifting and full of life, you feel as if you are on the road trip with the women. Each destination came to life with the little details about each place. The book shimmers with the sunshine and is a complete tonic in these lockdown days.

In short: A treasure hunt through Eutope throws two women together.  

About the Author

Sheila O’Flanagan is the author of bestselling chart-toppers,   including   Her   Husband’s   Mistake,   The   Hideaway, What Happened That Night, The Missing Wife, My Mother’s Secret and All For You (winner of the Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award). After working in banking and finance for  a  number  of  years,  Sheila’s  love  for  writing blossomed into curating stories about relationships in all their many forms. 

You can follow Sheila here: Website  |  Twitter  |   Facebook

Book link: Amazon UK

Thanks to Sheila O'Flanagan, Headline Review and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.

Check out the rest of the tour!