Hazel Prior, author of "How the Penguins Saved Veronica" has written a heartwarming, memorable, and entertaining novel. The genres for this novel are fiction and women's fiction.  The timeline for this story is set in the author's present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters and events in the story. The story takes place in Antarctica and England. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex, complicated, quirky, and flawed. The most delightfully adorable characters are the penguins.

Veronica McCreedy is a feisty, stubborn, determined 85-year-old woman, who doesn't think she has any family. Veronica is lonely at times, and starts watching a television show about Penguins in Antarctica, and arranges for her housekeeper to provide Veronica the information about transportation to visit with the penguins and the scientists. Veronica also finds out that she has a grandson Patrick. After locating him, she is extremely disappointed in him.

Veronica arrives in Antarctica properly dressed in the appropriate attire for the freezing weather. At first, she gets a chilly reception from the staff. Terry, the only woman is truly a penguin whisperer and introduces Veronica to the penguins. Veronica sees an abandoned orphaned penguin and insists that the team help rescue and take care of it.

Somehow by rescuing the penguin, and the way the other penguins survive enable Veronica to accept her past and move on to the future. She realizes that forgiveness and second changes are important.

 I appreciate the author's research into penguins. The author also discusses the importance of family, friends, belonging, love, and hope are. I would recommend this delightful and thought-provoking story.

Veronica McReedy is rich, comfortable, and old. She has no family, having divorced her husband many years ago, and her parents having died when she was a young teenager, during World War II. Well, she did have a baby, a very long time ago, but he was adopted, and she never saw him again. Eventually, she learned, from one of his adopted cousins, that he had died in a mountain climbing accident, in his forties. He had no children.

Except--she has found the box in which she stored some keepsakes, a locket with several strands of hair, and her diary notebooks, which she last wrote in during the war. And now she wonders, is she really sure? Would an adopted cousin really know, for sure, if her son had any offspring?

Patrick Fuller has just been dumped by his girlfriend, who is now living with a builder, and consequently has also lost his apartment, which her income had been essential for. He's working one day a week at Gav's bicycle shop, and his only other income is the dole. He's in a smaller, crappier apartment that Gav found him, not cooking healthy anymore like he did with Lynette, and even smoking marijuana again.

Veronica asks her housekeeper, Eileen, to find her a reliable agency, and sets them to work looking for any surviving relatives.

In the meantime, though, Veronica has also become interested in penguins. Adélie penguins, to be precise. She discovered them in a nature program, and is determined to help the endangered penguins survive--at least, if she can have confidence in the group of scientists working on that. To that end, she has Eileen email the chief scientist at the research station, and inform him that she intends to pay a visit, possibly for several months, with an eye to possibly making a will benefiting the penguin research program.

Dietrich (the head scientist) and his two colleagues do their best to explain that this is impossible, that they have no accommodations for a guest, that conditions are basic at best, etc. After some back and forth, the result is that Veronica will stay there for three weeks, the length of time between arrivals of the supply ship. And she will pay generously for her accommodations, at a rate suitable for decent accommodations in London.

While this is in progress, the agency finds Patrick Fuller, her grandson, and Veronica arranges to meet him. Patrick envisions the possibility of a sweet, charming, old granny with whom he might have the love and connection he hasn't had since his mother died when he was six. Veronica is envisioning an organized, capable, possibly worthy heir to the money that is, at this point, all she has.

Veronica and Patrick are both disappointed.

But Veronica has met Patrick when he's at a low point, deep in depression and with no idea what he even wants in life. And Patrick has met Veronica when she, too, is at a low point, with only the awareness that she has nothing in her life that she really cares about. Now Veronica is is heading off to Locket Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica, and, due to communication between Eileen and Dietrich, behind Veronica's back, Patrick is alerted to be at the airport to see her off. He takes the chance, feeling bad about his first interaction with his new-found grandmother.

And this gets both of them thinking, along new and more productive lines.

Meanwhile, I've said nothing about the Locket Island, the penguins, or the scientists. Suffice it to say, this book is all about living beings intereacting with each other, and learning from each other.

And healing, and growing.

It's a wonderfully warm,enjoyable book. Recommended.

I received an electronic galley of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, and reviewing it voluntarily.

I am obsessed with penguins. They are my absolute favorite. So when I saw How the Penguins Saved Veronica on NetGalley it was a must read for me and thankfully the publisher granted my request. It is about 85 year old curmudgeon Veronica McCreedy. She lives alone in Scotland and is inspired by a documentary she sees on penguins. She gets it in her head that she must go to Antarctica to witness the research on the penguins first-hand with the hope that she will leave her fortune to the research project once she passes. It was an adorable story with quite a few chuckles. I think fans of Backman's Ove and Grandmother books would really enjoy this one. 4/5

Veronica is stubborn, quirky curmudgeon who won't let anything or anyone stand in her way. All of which make her a fun main character. My husband loves penguins, so I was excited about that angle, and I learned some things about them along the way. At the core, this is a heartwarming, well-crafted story about family.

I highly enjoyed this! I loved getting to know Veronica and all her quirks. She’s a stubborn go-getter who’s not going to let anyone stand in her way. But with the help of some adorable penguins and a few choice individuals, she comes out of her shell. The characters are all dynamic, unique, and incredibly well layered. And who doesn’t love a book about penguins?? If you’re looking for your next “beloved curmudgeon” story a la “A Man Called Ove,” this is it.

She's 85, has no family she knows of and has money to will. When she starts watching a nature program with penguins, she has an idea...

Berkley and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published June 16th.

Right before she goes on her adventure, she finds out her son is dead but she has a grandson. She goes to visit him without warning and the visit doesn't go well. She decides to visit the penguins instead.

The scientists tell her not to come. There are no charming factors to living on an island in Antarctica. She shows up anyway and is totally charmed by the penguins. The food isn't great, neither are her quarters but she doesn't complain.

One night she sneaks out on her own and has an attack. They take her back to the shelter and call the doctor. They also let her grandson know. His boss fronts him the money to go visit.

She's in and out of consciousness and barely recognizes him, but he sits with her. He repairs a broken solar unit. Begins cooking, and it's good food! Soon he and she are spending time together.

He falls in love with the woman working with the penguins. When he's leaving with his Grandma, he asks her to come with him, but her life is with the penguins. That's OK, Grandma intends to leave him her money and then he can return and help her with the project. Everyone loves penguins...

You know you're into a good book when one of the main characters names his pot plants Weedledum and Weedledee, .85 year old Veronica realizes that time is running out, and with no one to leave her fortune to, she decides to visit a penquin research facility in the South Shetland Islands with a view to leave her fortune to further research. Her newly found grandson joins her there to try to develop their growing relationship. This is a heartwarming story proving it's never too late to find family.

i really enjoyed this book, a great one for reconnecting with family. Very enjoyable and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Aaaaahhhhhh!!! Perfection! I absolutely love this book! It’s rare that I fall in love with every character so much. But V is just amazing. The layers of her life are intense and believable. I kept picturing her as Judy Dench! And maybe Tom Huddleston as Patrick??? The penguin storyline is informative and fun. This doesn’t come out for a month but I’ve been yelling from the rooftops how much I adore it. Thank you for letting me read it!

Enjoyable and lighthearted. Veronica is 85 years old, most of the time with it, sometimes not. What she is however is wealthy, feisty, and still young at heart. Watching a series of documentaries on Penguins she decides to visit the island where they live before she decides to give her money to the project. During this same time she discovers she has a grandson. While At first meet she’s not at all impressed, their relationship starts to grow.
I love quirky reads like this with original plots.

I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. This author had a unique style of exposing the underlying complexities of the characters. She made me want to learn more about them. This is a very enjoyable look at relationships, love, and loss.

Veronica is an interesting octogenarian who on first meeting appears to be very cranky and unhappy. There are also fears voiced by her caregiver that she may be experiencing some dementia. She lives in a mansion in Scotland. She becomes very interested in penquins after watching a documentary describing a research project on Locket Island in Antarctica. Veronica is searching for something to inspire her...a mission...a place where she could make a difference. But before giving any of her money to the project she wants to make a three week visit to the island. The three scientists on the island try unsuccessfully to dissuade her from visiting....due to the living conditions being very primitive.

Veronica also discovers she has a grandson just prior to her trip to the island. She is very disappointed in Patrick, her grandson who appears to be on drugs, unemployed, and unrefined. To Patrick his grandmother appears stuffy, formal, and grumpy. Veronica does decide to send Patrick her teenage diaries. This gives Patrick and the reader a glimpse of Victoria’s tragic past.

During her trip to the island life changes for her, the three scientists, Patrick and a penguin named Pip.

I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this for an honest review.

This novel reminded me very much of the plot of the book and movie, Where Did You Go, Bernadette?

How the Penguins Saved Veronica is about an 85 year old woman who becomes intrigued by the penguins in Antartica and decides to do something drastic about it. A very light read, enjoyable.