REVIEW: Away with the Penguins (Hazel Prior)

Book: Away with the Penguins

Author: Hazel Prior

Premise: Eighty-five-year-old Veronica McCreedy is estranged from her grandson and wants to find a worthwhile cause to leave her fortune to. When she sees a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica, she tells the scientists she’s coming to visit—and won’t take no for an answer.

This was a sweet read with a touch of the heartbreaking. Veronica is your classic grumpy old lady who's stuck in her ways. She discovers she has a grandson, Patrick, but isn't enamored by him. While she's in Antarctica, Patrick has been given her diaries and he learns about her teenage years. Those diaries were so sad and I wanted to give Veronica a big old hug when I realised what she'd gone through. Over the story, we see her stony facade soften and a relationship with Patrick blossom.

A really heart warming story. And most of all, there's cute penguins - what's not to like!