Ruby and Angela are both in their 60s and not ready to settle quietly into old age. They become friends after the death of Angela’s husband. They are complete opposites when it come to character, Angela is outgoing and confident, Ruby is quiet and introverted. Which makes it a surprise when Ruby buys a second hand motor home and announces they are going to be grey nomads.

Izzy is an eight year old girl who lives in a caravan park with her mother. Her mother has issues and is not coping very well. Izzy is neglected and decides her mother doesn’t want her and runs away. She hides in the motor home and when the ladies depart on their road trip unaware of their young passenger they don’t realise they are now kidnappers.

I did identify with Angela and Ruby, as I am in the same age group, and recently retired. But despite this identification, I found I didn’t really connect to any of the characters. I understood where they were coming from, and why they did what they did. But the connection didn’t really come other than a recognition that I ‘know’ people like some of the characters mentioned. The story shows that while it is not easy growing older there is plenty of life left and one can still enjoy life once work has stopped.

Overall, I found ‘The Grand Tour’ to a very lighthearted read with occasional laugh-out-loud section. The story was less about the tour and more about a journey to discovery as they figure out where they fit in society as older people.

With thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for my copy to review

The Grand Tour by Olivia Wearne was a quirky read with some entertaining characters who kept the pages turning.
Review copy from the Publisher via Netgalley

The Grand Tour has been a thoroughly entertaining read though I did find the plethora of people dotting the pages a little difficult to follow at times. Set mainly in Victoria, the story revolves around two friends, Angela Brackenberg, a retired hair and make-up artist for theatre and television, and Ruby McPherson, a retired primary school nurse. The story opens with their purchase of a Winnebago and follows their travels. Along the way Ruby’s granddaughter Izzy joins the pair. A secondary story involving Angela’s brother Bernard, a former TV newsreader, his ex-wife Mia and her many gay friends unfolds at the same time.
This story explores relationships and family and is at times very funny while at other times it is both shocking and sad. I thought author Olivia Wearne did an excellent job of depicting her characters, their personalities and the lives they were living. I was appalled at the way Izzy was being raised but on sad reflection realised that there are almost certainly many children in our country living in a state of neglect. With this tale being told through four pairs of eyes it wasn’t always easy to keep track of who was related to whom and in what way and I struggled to link the threads. On the whole though this has been a fascinating read.

In Olivia Wearne’s debut novel The Grand Tour we meet Ruby and Angela as they embark on a road trip grey nomad style.

The characters are quirky, and the story is a lighthearted read.

I will be interested in seeing more from Olivia Wearne in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for kindly gifting me a copy of this book to read and review.

Oh, the life of a grey nomad. I must be honest, that life does very little to interest me, at all.

Ruby and Angela embark on a Grey Nomads road trip, the ultimate point of which is to repair relationships, but plans unravel and change through a series of events, including a stowaway, which amounts to kidnapping and then all the things that go along with mending fences (relationships) and meeting new people. As for Bernard, Angela’s brother, he needs to get his life together and perhaps learn a few lessons and grow as a person.

I found this story to be engaging in parts, but it is definitely a character driven book and there were a couple of characters who rubbed me the wrong way. I thought, from the blurb, that it was going to be about a mad-cap adventure of women ageing disgracefully, which it was to an extent, but it was really focused on relationships and how they can be challenging, redemptive, unexpected etc.

That being said, this was a light-hearted read with some comical situations and laugh out loud moments, but I’m not sure I was really the target audience for this one.

‘He held his phone at arm’s length for Lucas to see. ‘She sent me a photo as well. It’s her and a friend, on a road trip apparently.’ ‘Very Thelma and Louise! Mia, having crept up behind to view the screen, startled them both. ‘Let’s hope they don’t run off a cliff.’

The Grand Tour is a quirky Australian tale of a rather eclectic group of people who, through the circumstances they find themselves in, try to make the best of some rather unusual situations.

Ruby and Angela, two retirees, decide to go on a road trip together whilst their units are being renovated. Herein lies my first disappointment - it’s not really that much about the road trips as they don’t really venture that far. This is much more a character driven tale with a weird and wonderful assortment of people you can come across in life. It’s also a story of the journey the main leads find themselves on (figuratively speaking) as they search for meaning through either age, lost spouse, lost career, lost family ties or all of the above.

‘A road trip.’ Ruby bobbed to let Angela hook an arm around her shoulders. ‘For someone who can’t stand somebody, you spend a lot of time worrying what he thinks. Precisely. Now do a big smile and make it look like we’re having the time of our lives.’

So whilst I was hoping for a good road trip story, the focus is more on working through the ups and downs of relationships and how meeting new people can ultimately show you how you can adapt to the many changes life can throw at you. The story perspectives jump around somewhat, some characters are hard to like and it's a tale that just trundles along with no real strong, key factor. I would also have loved a more engaging ending with closure, particularly for Ruby and her family.

If you are after a lighthearted and easy read, full of quirky and eccentric people and places then give The Grand Tour a go.

‘She’d equated motor homes with freedom: safe, comfortable, manageable freedom. She’d fore- seen spontaneity and adventure, something to stop her from stagnating. The idea now seemed oppressive. Escape was never on the cards; you can’t break free from yourself.’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

I found that this book, whilst Ok, wasn't really a fit work me.

I did not connect with the ladies at all, and to me Bernard was a bit wishy washy.

This may be a better fit with the grey nomad readers better than me.

It wasn't bad bad, it just wasn't for me.