Review of THREE WOMEN AND A BOAT by Anne Youngson

 3.5 Stars

This quiet, charming book was a welcome reprieve from the heavy reading I’ve been doing.

Eve has just been fired from her long-time job with an engineering firm.  Sally has just walked away from her marriage.  The two meet each other and another woman, Anastasia, who makes her home on a canal boat.  Anastasia needs to receive some medical care in Uxbridge so Eve and Sally agree to take the boat to Chester for maintenance.  As they navigate the canals (and locks and tunnels), Eve and Sally embark on a journey of self-discovery. 

The inciting incident requires some suspension of disbelief.  The meeting of the three women is certainly a chance event.  Two women who don’t know each other agree to travel together for weeks and navigate a canal boat for not a short distance?  Anastasia entrusts her beloved boat to two strangers with no experience of boats?  I remember being taught that the inciting incident is the one event that can rely on chance or coincidence if it brings together people to develop theme.  That’s definitely the case in this book.

The book brings together Eve and Sally who are opposites in many ways.  Eve has always been the one in control, whereas Sally feels she has not really had any control over her life.  The canal trip forces them to slow down and gives them time to reflect on their lives.  They face new challenges and come to realize they have abilities they didn’t know they had.  They take up new interests and a friendship develops between them. 

Anastasia is an unforgettable character.  Fierce and fiercely independent, she has to learn to accept help from others.  Her bluntness is off-putting, but the reader gradually sees new depths to her character.  The other characters the women encounter (especially Trompette, Arthur, and Owen) are all distinct.  Each has an interesting backstory.  Even Noah, Anastasia’s dog, provides humour and suspense. 

The novel is about the power of friendship and about second chances.  The women are middle-aged but they learn and grow.  The challenges they face in an unfamiliar situation bring them together, despite their opposite personalities.  They also realize they are capable people who can create new lives, hopefully lives that will bring them more contentment. 

Reading this book is like taking a leisurely canal journey.  It has its challenges, some funny and some more serious, but overall is enjoyable.  Though not action-packed, the novel is thoughtful.  And its overarching message is that we are all extraordinary in ordinary ways.  I listened to this as an audiobook on my morning walks and it was a perfect way to begin each day.