Anne Youngson
The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson is a story about three very different women who form a bond over a narrowboat as they journey through the meandering canals of England. Each of the three women is at a crossroads in her life.
Eve and Sally are both in their mid-fifties. Eve has just been fired from a prestigious job and is at a loose end. Sally has just informed her husband of twenty-five years that she wants out of her marriage. The two strangers are walking towards each other from opposite ends of a towpath when the sound of a howling dog brings them to a screeching halt in front of Number One, a narrowboat. Eve breaks the door down to let the dog out just as Anastasia, the boat owner, shows up.
Anastasia, too, is at a crossroads in her life. She has been diagnosed with cancer and is need of medical treatment. Anastasia reveals she needs someone to take her boat to Chester for maintenance and to bring the boat back to her at Uxbridge. It is a serendipitous encounter. Eve offers her apartment to Anastasia while she undergoes treatment, and Sally and Eve agree to navigate her narrowboat down the English canals to Chester. Anastasia gives them a crash course on boat navigation. With no experience but plenty of gusto, Sally and Eve set off on their adventure.
The novel meanders much like the journey on the canals. Sally and Eve learn to navigate the waterways, negotiate the opening and closing of numerous locks, and adjust to life in confined quarters. As they make their journey to Chester, they encounter a motely group of colorful canal voyagers, some of whom become permanent fixtures as friends. Occasional phone calls to Anastasia keep them grounded. But for the most part, the two women are alone. They learn about one another, learn about themselves, develop skills neither one knew she had, and cultivate new interests, all the while enjoying the scenery and serenity a journey down the river offers.
This is a meandering, relaxing read. As Eve and Sally twist and turn through the canals of England, they discover strengths in themselves and in each other. Life on the canal affords them with a much-needed escape to formulate their thoughts and next steps. Although they stop along the route for food, news, and mail, these stops serve as little punctuation marks until they can get back to the refuge they experience on the boat. The novel ends with the group of friends planning their next adventure together.
Set against an idyllic backdrop of canals and the English countryside, this is a gentle, quiet read, which, like the canals it explores, has little depth but is enjoyable, nevertheless.