Away with the Penguins (2020) by Hazel Prior

🐧 First of all, Away with the Penguins is the same book as How the Penguins Saved Veronica; the first is the UK title, the latter, the US one (isn't it annoying how publishers keep changing titles? I think they should keep the original one, except for translation - and they, too, should translate from the original title). But let's put that aside, and let the book itself shines, because it is quite marvellous!

🐧 Veronica McCreedy is eighty-five years old lady - a curmudgeonly tough old nut who lives alone with an assistant in Scotland. Though physically declining, her spirit still brightly shines. She is rich but doesn't have any family left to bequeath it to. Or so she thought.

🐧 Now what she needs is to transfer what's left in her into a worthy cause, like what her father had always taught her. And she's found one: penguins! But first thing's first: she needs to make sure she didn't have any family left. A hired agent gave her the confirmation: she has a grandson she never knew, the son of her longtime estranged and dead son!

🐧 Patrick Fuller grew up hating his father for leaving his vulnerable mother in the lurch, when Patrick was a baby. Now he's an unkempt young man without purpose, semi-addicted to dope after his girlfriend left him for another man. It is in this condition that Veronica McCreedy suddenly entered his life as a grandmother he never knew he had.

🐧 Their first meeting is very awkward. Two opposite people from two very different generations, who keep their own bitter secrets, with only one thread connect them: a Joe Fuller, or Enzo, the son Veronica must give up long ago, and a father Patrick grew up hating - well, it's almost impossible to unite them. But nature always has its unique healing quality. In this case, it is represented by the penguins.

🐧 Three scientists do research on how to save Penguins in a colony in Antarctica, but they are in financial difficulty. Veronica is eager to leave her money for this research, and despite the scientist team's warning that their quarter is by no means adequate to accommodate an elderly, Veronica stubbornly comes to Antarctica to see the penguins. What'll happen next? Will Veronica change the penguins? Or is it her life that will be changed by the penguins? And how about her relationship with Patrick?

🐧 This is one of the most wholesome, heartwarming books I've read lately. I loved how the story is told alternately from Veronica's and Patrick's views. It provides the reader outlets to get to know each character more intimately. Then, Terry's (one of the scientists) blogging about penguin adds a charming aspect of the penguin's cause. One of interesting things I learned is that penguins are used by scientists as indicator of ecosystem changes. On the whole, it is a refreshing and entertaining novel, beautifully written - sometimes touching, sometimes funny. Oh, and I adore Pip, the little penguin. Prior wrote the novel so vividly that I felt like seeing cute Pip alive, while occasionally petting him! ❤

Rating: 5 / 5