I won a digital copy of this book and read it blind. At first it took me a minute to get into, but once I did, I couldn’t break away from Sally, Eve and Anastasia’s story.

These three women meet by chance because of a dog making horrific noises inside a narrowboat. One woman chose to leave her marriage, another was booted from her life-consuming job and the third needed help. This story moves as gently as the canal currents, and is just as soothing as the bond between the women grow.

Through their experiences and adventures, Eve and Sally realize who they are and what they need from life and themselves.

Thank you, @flatiron_books for the digital copy of this book!

I was delighted when the publisher of The Narrowboat Summer invited me to read a copy of this book due to my love of Anne Youngson's earlier book, Meet Me At the Museum. And like other readers have stated I had no idea what a “narrowboat” might be, so looked up pictures and descriptions. These were boats that were built to navigate the narrow canals of England, and that have small outdoor areas, with most of the long structure being enclosed into various rooms. Apparently it is not uncommon for people in England to live on these boats year round, moving through the country via the many canals.
Such is the case with Anastasia, one of the three women who are featured in this novel.
Anastasia, like the other two women in this story, is facing a crisis in her life. She has a serious, possibly life threatening medical condition, but must delay treatment until she finds some way to get her narrowboat moved across numerous canals and miles to a location where there is a man ready to do much needed repair on the vessel.
The second woman we meet here is Eve, described with this sentence--”Eve’s hands were full of the debris of a more than thirty year career”, and as she faces the loss of her job and indecision about what to do next, Eve is offered the possibility of living aboard Anastasia’s boat for a short time. As Eve tried to decide what to do she meets Sally, yet another woman who is at a crossroads in her life, trying to decide on leaving or staying in her long marriage.
The process by which Eve and Sally slowly make the decision to transport Anastasia’s narrowboat for her, a trip which will take a number of weeks, while Anastasia seeks medical treatment, intrigued me.
The three women discuss many aspects of these decisions, and then the trip begins.
The story here is mostly about the friendship that develops among all three women, but especially between Eve and Sally as they share experiences on their voyage. There are several other characters introduced, but they seem to mostly share the role of enlarging the perception we have of both Eve and Sally, and to provide them an opportunity to learn more about how the other person conducts themselves in the world.
Each of these three women is distinctly drawn by the author, with differing perspectives and personalities. And although their trip along the canals took a number of weeks, it was interesting to hear how they navigated through many locks, and met other people on narrowboats or barges.
Although I can’t say that this book grabbed me in quit the way as “Meet Me at the Museum” it was still an absorbing read with engaging, interesting characters. My thanks for the author, Flatiron Books, and Netgalley, for this opportunity.

I appreciated the concept of this book. The narrowboat journey up the canal was nicely paralleled symbolically to life’s journey from one point to another. The stops we make, the people we meet, the stories we hear, and our out look through the good and bad. The story is about friendships and new relationships. New beginnings. For me, while the concept was absolutely charming and the writing was good, I just felt the story moved slowly, just like the boat up the canal. Personally, I would have like a faster pace, but then it would have taken away from what the book was intended to be. If you like slow paced journeys through life, this may be one for you.

This is a nice gentle change-of-pace read in which I found comfort. It is the story of three British women who serendipitously come together when all three are in need. The story revolves around Eve, Sally, and Anastasia. Eve is in the corporate world until she is unfairly given the axe. Sally is in an unfulfilling marriage, and she is looking for answers. Anastasia has life-threatening cancer and must get her narrowboat, which she lives on, repaired somehow. Unfortunately, not only does she no longer have the energy to navigate it to the place of repair, but she must stay where she is in order to continue her cancer treatment.

Eve and Sally need a break from their respective lives. They make a rather sudden decision to help out Anastasia, though neither have driven a boat before. Hence they begin the voyage of their lives on Anastasia’s narrowboat, guiding it through a canal system in Great Britain from Uxbridge to Chester. Along the way they navigate through tunnels, the locks, and the canal population—a few of whom they befriend.

This is book about friendship, helping each other out, taking stock of life, and making the best decisions one can. It is slow to begin as we get to know the main characters. The book is heavily character-driven, so if you are looking for a quick-moving plot with a lot of action and suspense, this isn’t it. We journey along with cast as they contemplate their present and their futures. It’s not easy to make major changes in the course of one’s life when it is already more than halfway over.

I looked up “narrowboat” in Wikipedia and learned a lot about these little-known boats, both at that site and from the story itself. Ms. Youngson has a wonderful sense of portraying place and mood, which elevated the ambiance of the narrative.

Other than the slightly slow start, the only other piece of criticism I have is that there was no epilogue. I found the ending uplifting, but somewhat abrupt. I was hoping for a little more regarding the futures of these wonderful characters.

The Narrowboat Summer is one to savor, not to grab as a quick read. If you like contemplative stories that are strongly character-driven, then this one is for you.

Many thanks to Kelsy at Flatiron Marketing who arranged an ARC for me through Net Galley. Thank you also, Ms. Youngson. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

I reviewed this on my blog and on GoodReads. Details provided directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process.

I loved this story and hope the author continues the story with another book. But in the meantime, I have put on my "to do list" a trip on a narrowboat. This story is about the lives of four women and how they come together and share their story with each other. (There are also some characters in the story that add to the trip). Their story is told while traveling down the English canals in what is called a narrowboat. You truly feel, when reading this story, that you are right there with the characters traveling along listening to them and feeling what they are feeling. Well written. A trip without leaving your chair. Highly recommend.

I needed an uplifting read, and this book came at a time when I needed it the most. Books are such a source of comfort and Anne Youngson's writing of THE NARROWBOAT SUMMER brings a wonderful addition to the contemporary women's fiction genre, full of characters that confounds how friendships blossom in the most unusual of circumstances that is perfect for any age.

I had never been on a narrowboat or even in a canal of sorts but the story did take me on this bit of an adventure amongst the stories behind the women, as they form this friendship, and as they share their struggles and difficulties in a hopeful, light hearted and many times what are you going to do but chuckle with what lives hands you.

I enjoyed each of the characters - Sally, Eve, Anastasia as well as all the other sub characters that meander through this journey and story in this narrowboat in the British canal.

A truly fantastic read I loved.

I absolutely adored Anne Youngson's first novel, Meet Me at the Museum. While I enjoyed certain aspects of The Narrowboat Summer, it was in no way as good. I found it difficult to get into the story, even to the point of not being able to keep the two main characters apart in my mind. I stuck with the story because I love the author so much, and about halfway through I got more invested in the story. I loved the setting and learning more about narrowboats in Britain. I found the plot to be predictable and the characters to be a bit stereotypical. Overall it was just okay.

Meanderings to relish!

I so enjoyed Narrowboat Summer. A very different read. A story to savor. A quiet winner. Three women meet on a tow path just out of London and for two their lives change forever.
A fabulous cast of eccentric characters and two middle aged women. Sally had just walked out on her marriage and Eve had been let go from her job as an engineer.
Walking from different directions along the tow path the women happen to intersect with each other and Anastasia, a hardened canal boat owner who’s worked the canals and locks for years.
Eve and Sally find themselves deciding to help Anastasia out of a problem, crewing on her narrowboat The Number One, learning the locks and the rhythms of the river, before taking it to a boatyard at Chester whilst Anastasia took care of some health needs. This was the start of a journey measured in days not hours, a journey of the soul.
And that's what drew me on! The people, the rhythms, the slow winding down and calming that takes place as the women undergo their own particular canal change (sea change!)
This read was whimsical, deep, and slow moving like the canals, and I flowed along with it as the women learned more about themselves, as they interacted with each other, (they are total opposites) and with the very different people they encounter. All the while Anastasia is the anchor, the pivot point around whom they all flow and eddy.
This just might become one of my favorite reads of 2021 as it invoked calm into the happenstances Eve and Sally are challenged by. A certain mindfulness is at play.
I loved the talented Trompette and the mysterious Arthur.
I felt liked I'd stepped back in time. I hadn't! I'd stepped away from the rat race. Even the lyrical cover reflects a different world. One could conceive that all the characters are lost and adrift but that's far from the truth. Their truths are so much more at once complex and yet sanely simple. Beautifully paced!

A Flatiron ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Overall a fair read. Eve and Sally meet when they hear a dog crying on a boat along the river. When they let Noah out he runs, and they soon meet his owner. She is dying of cancer, and needs her boat fixed. Talking amongst themselves, Eve and Sally decide this is what they need to do to help her and get out of their rut in life. The concept is good, and I really enjoyed the beginning, but the actual journey became a bit slow and started to skim a bit. Still though, I guess in a way the speed is about as slow as the ride on the river would be, so it fits. Would recommend.

(3.7 stars) rounding up to 4 stars.

A lovely escape from a chilly winter. If chamomile tea and slow drifting afternoons on a canal interest you, then this might be the book for you.

After a chance encounter between three strangers, Eve—a middle-aged woman freshly separated from her job, Sally—an empty nester and seemingly soon to be divorcée, and Anastasia—a narrowboat owner who is in desperate need of rest on dry land, form a quick and unexpected bond that ends with a plan for the summer. While Anastasia spends a few months on land, Eve and Sally will take care of her boat and deliver the Number One further along the canals for repairs. Over the course of summer, the three women collectively and individually are forced to slow down, take a look at their own lives, and make decisions for their futures. Full of slow-moving currents, and country breezes, The Narrowboat Summer is about second chances, unlikely friendships and not being afraid to start over in life.

Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. The plot was a little too gentle and sleepy and I wanted more in-depth character development from all three women. The perpetual grumpiness of one character also bothered me, as it made the kindness of the other two characters seem implausible.

With that being said, I think readers who enjoy gentle plots that take place in England and feature women reinventing themselves at any age, will enjoy this book.

Thank you, @thebookclubmom for hosting a giveaway in which I won this digital ARC.
Thank you, Flatiron Books and NetGalley for providing me with my gifted copy of The Narrowboat Summer!
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P.S. - The cover art is fantastic! If I were a consumer in a bookstore with no prior knowledge about this book, this cover would have convinced me to purchase.

My public reviews for Goodreads and Instagram will be posted tomorrow (Jan 22 2021) while my reviews for purchasing platforms such as Amazon will go up on PUB day. Congrats on the new publication and thanks again for the gifted ARC!

Do not approach this call Smith book like you do others. This isn’t the sunshiny optimistic books we’re used to from him. Read with an open mind. He’s created short stories based on newspaper photos. Readers will find themselves making personal connections with some, and others with not much relevance. This would be a book best read in paper version. Readers will want to flip back and forth to the photographs as they read the stories.

Eve's lost her job, Sally's left her husband, and Anastasia is facing a nasty cancer diagnosis. These three women meet by chance on the towpath when Eve and Sally band together to rescue (they think) a dog from what turns to to be Anastasia's boat. Before the day is out, they come to an agreement- Sally and Eve will pilot the boat to where it will get some such needed maintenance and Anastasia will live in Eve's flat while she sorts out treatment. What an unusual arrangement. The charm of this is in the travel through the canals and the people the women meet. Billy and Trompette, who are younger than the women, are delightful (you'll enjoy Billy's stories) and Arthur, well, Arthur is special. Everyone in this novel is at a turning point and they all learn something about themselves and others over the course of a summer. There are some wonderful scenes along the river, in a yarn shop (is Youngson a knitter?) , and between the three women. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is a gentle story which meanders much like the narrowboat through the canals to a satisfying conclusion.

A novel that centers around the unexpected friendship of three very different women. Eve is 31 and has just lot her job, Sally, who is older, has just decided to leave her husband of many years. They meet unexpectedly when they try to rescue Noah a precocious dog. When they meet Noah’s owner, Anastasia, they make a decision, that will change their life courses for both of them.

Anastasia, owner of the Number One, a Narrowboat, needs to get her in for repair. However, she has just been diagnosed with cancer, and she needs stay ashore to take care of health. When she unexpectedly meets Sally and Eve, they decide on the fly, that the both of them will take the summer to get the boat to where it needs to be for repair.

Eve and Sally could not be more different from each other, but they some how make their relationship work. Along the way they meet many of Anastasia’s friends, and we get many heart warming stories and adventures.

I loved this story. Throughout all the good and bad, this was just so hopeful. There was so many rich stories to be told throughout this novel that will have you reading as fast as you can. This is an adventure story at his heart, but has all the beauty of the old tale of what friendship means.

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book at the beginning, got slightly bored in the middle and downright skimmed at the end.

Eve and Sally literally meet on a towpath having their respective lives crash and burn. They end up meeting Anastasia who owns the boat where they break out a dog that they think is in trouble and go on this adventure with a narrowboat.

I loved the quips and the relationships and the self reflection. Eve is into numbers and facts and loves the dog Noah, and Sally is more into feelings and comfort. They choose to take Anastasia's narrowboat down to Chester to get the bottom blackened and back again while meeting different characters along the river.

This started out so strong! It fell quite flat and the chapters were long and there was just too many words. Too many unnecessary pivots and plot devices that took away from the lovely main characters and their relationship to the canals and themselves.

4 Friendship Stars

A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. ... The first narrow boats played a key part in the economic changes of the British Industrial Revolution. They were wooden boats drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member.

I enjoyed this slower-paced read and learning more about narrowboats and this lifestyle. This one features three women who are each at a turning point in their lives. They start out as strangers, but by the end of the book, they can’t imagine life without each other.

I’ll start with Anastasia, the owner of the narrowboat. She’s got some medical issues that require her to be close to doctors and possibly the hospital, but she also needs to get her boat repaired to keep everything in running order. There’s a friend who will do the repairs, but his dock is down the canal and she can’t be in two places at the same time. Anastasia is no-nonsense and has a way of seeing right to the heart of things.

Eve has just ditched her corporate career and doesn’t quite know what to do with herself. She happens upon Sally who has just ditched her husband. I’m sure you can guess what happens next! The two agree to help out Anastasia and after a few lessons, they are off on the adventure of taking the boat to the repair dock. It will take them weeks and they encounter quite a few interesting characters along the way and learn how to navigate the locks and drive the boat.

All three women grow and change with these new friendships and it is a summer adventure that will alter their lives. This uplifting novel was a nice change of pace and does make me yearn to go on my own narrowboat adventure some summer in the near future.

Thank you to BookBrowse, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for the copy of this one to read. I'm looking forward to the book discussion on this one.

I was excited to receive an ARC copy of Anne Youngson second novel The Narrowboat Summer, I loved Meet me at the Museum and I was not disappointed by it.
I have to say this book is quite different from Meet me at the Museum but both novels leave you with a sense of brighter future: the story ends but you know that things for the main characters’ life will change for the better.
In the novel Eve and Sally decide to help Anastasia, the owner of a narrowboat called Number One; the narrowboat needs repairs, but Anastasia cannot bring it to the boatyard in Chester because she needs to stay in Uxbridge for heath reasons. The three women meet casually in front of the narrowboat and from the beginning you can clearly see as these three women are quite different. Sally seems to be the quiet one, Eve, quite pragmatic, is the strong character but she has recently been laid off, so she is in a moment of vulnerability, Anastasia is used to a frugal life on the Canal and she is used to be direct and independent but now she needs help.
I loved the development of the novel, it is not a fast-paced book but, I think it reflects the slow moving of the life on a canal. At the end of the journey (and of the book) the three women seems to have a clearer view of their future and what it is going to be their next move.
I knew nothing about canals, locks and gate and this book left me with the longing of a boat cruise on the English canals. When I was young, I read Three men in a boat, but I have to say except for the fact there here there are three women and a dog the resemblances stop here. On the contrary I found some similarities with Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, both novels describe the life of small community that live in an unusual and unique way so different from the one that we usually know.
Yesterday before writing this review I searched about canals and locks and I found a couples of interesting videos, here is the link to one that I think may be nice to watch to better understand how locks work: (2014) Trent & Mersey Canal - Heartbreak Hill Part One (time lapse) - YouTube. There is also a website of the Canal & River Trust that is in charge of safeguarding the British waterways (see: About Us | Canal & River Trust).
I would like to thank Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the ARC copy and I would like to thank also Nikkia Rivera from Flatiron Books for the invite to join and be part the The Narrowboat Summer blog tour.

The star of this story is really the setting. We experience life on a narrowboat, as we float down the canals and explore the countryside, all in vivid detail. I felt like I’d gone on a trip through England’s waterways while sitting on my chair with this book.

The characters, though, feel a little flat. I wanted to understand Sally and Eve better, so I might believe these two strangers who’d never operated a boat would suddenly agree to abandon their lives and homes to take a third stranger’s boat on a months-long trip.

After a while, the content becomes repetitive, and I wanted something more to happen.

In the end, not a lot does happen. This story is more about women learning to rely on each other, while finding their own empowerment beyond what the world expects of them. For me, this would’ve been more impactful if I’d better understood Eve and Sally as complex individuals and/or if something more profound had happened along the way.

This book is about the unlikely friendship between three women who have nothing in common. Anastasia, owner of the Number One narrow boat, Sally, who has left her husband of 30 years, and Eve, who walked away from a corporate career after being let go from her current job. Sally and Eve meet when they help a dog who is obviously being mistreated by being locked in a boat. Anastasia, the owner of said dog, offers them an opportunity neither of them knew they needed and both can't refuse. Hence, the Narrowboat Summer.

Sally and Eve will take Anastasia's boat to her son so he can do some repair work while Anastasia will stay in Eve's house and undergo an operation and begin treatment for cancer.

Along the way, Sally and Eve meet a cast of characters that have had an impact on crochety Anastasia's life and they soon learn why.

I did enjoy the character development in this book and the way that through the unique experience given to Sally and Eve they are able to mesh out who they are and who they want to become. This book seemed to move quite slowly and while I would classify this as an adventure book, it did not hold the page turning pace that classic adventure novels do. I'm not sure how things could have moved faster, but I wish they would have. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how they were all very accepting of themselves and each other. And, the book did cause me to entertain voyaging on a narrowboat for a summer.

Great story of three women who take off on a narrow boat and spend time on a summer journey together going through the canals of England. I really enjoyed this book. It was perfect for me at this time, at home during a pandemic and in desperate need of travel. This is the perfect dose of armchair travel, along with a great story of the relationships between the women. Definitely recommend.