My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Staunch’ by Eleanor Wood in exchange for an honest review. It was published on 19 March.

From Publisher: “Eleanor finds herself in her late 30s on a beach in India with three old ladies, trying to ‘find herself’ and ‘discover her family history’ like some sad middle-class crisis cliché. How did she get here?”

This premise is a familiar one from women’s fiction and I had to remind myself more than once that this was a memoir. The three old ladies that Eleanor (Ellie) is travelling with are her grandmother and great-aunts.

Wood’s reflections move between the present day holiday in India and events in her life such as the breakup of her twelve year relationship with K, and two rebounds. It’s kind of real-life ‘Fleabag’ territory.

She also shares details of her family, who had lived in India since the nineteenth century and only returned to Britain in 1947, following Partition. The main reason for the trip is for her Nan and aunts to touch base with their roots one last time.

I don’t know if I would class it as a book about spirituality, though Ellie does write about her attempts to follow a healthy life style, including practicing yoga and meditation.

There was a fair amount that I could relate to in Ellie’s reminiscences, even though I am older than her. It proved very readable, quite funny in places, and insightful.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I finished this book over a week ago now but didn't get round to writing up this review because <em>so much </em>has been going on. You would've thought the lockdown would bring weeks of relaxation and boredom, but apparently that isn't quite the case in my house.
Anyway, onto the book. I honestly could have read the whole thing and not even realised it's a memoir. It's written in such a fantastic, rather comical way - it is thoroughly entertaining read despite the number of hardships and misfortune the author endures. These difficulties include bulimia, a break-up from a long-term, very serious relationship, surviving and escaping a pretty damn toxic relationship, and having her step-dad (who she is extremely close to) leave her mother, and thus, her.
Wood alternates between the 'current' day, where she is on holiday with three older female relatives in India, and the past - anywhere from her own past experiences to the childhood and history of her family members. It's amazing how much detail she includes, and the anecdotes from her grandmother's and great aunts' pasts sound like stories in their own right. It's quite amazing that it is all based on reality.
Side note, it's quite funny to me that the author's name is also Eleanor, and that she suffered with an eating disorder. It made me feel a kind of connection to her, I guess. I definitely related to her in a fair few ways.
Eleanor offers some surprisingly positive insights and revelations, especially toward the end of the book. For example, she describes how she has begun to accept the uncertainty of life and the impossibility of perfection all the time. She also mentions how she stops relying on disordered eating behaviours, as she realises that there is far more to life than shrinking yourself.
I really, really enjoyed this, which is quite surprising as I don't usually read memoirs or anything like this, really. Eleanor is portrayed as a really likeable and relatable character, and definitely very down-to-earth and raw in discussing her experiences and thoughts. 4.5 stars!

Let me start by saying that reviewing memoirs is incredibly difficult. Every memoir is unique, just as every individual's story is unique.

This memoir told the story of one woman who, following a period of turmoil in her life, embarks on a trip to India with her grandmother. There were points at which the author was very thoughtful and reflective, while at other times I found her to be reductionist about large portions of history/culture and she came across as quite privileged. This made the book, for me, quite difficult to engage with.

The book is, in essence, an ode to the women in her life, most of whom she refers to as "staunch", for their strength and resilience in facing various challenges.

I've rated it neutrally as it feels only fair, though sadly I personally did not connect with the book in the way I would have liked.

Brilliant!

Staunch looks at what it means to be a woman. The character of Ellie is so relatable, she feels out of sync with others her age and feels that everything she has endured is her fault.

The book jumps from time period to time period but when you give up trying to keep track of the chronology it is a joyous romp through Ellie and her grandmother’s lives.

The book looks at mental health and why it is important that we take time to slow down and look after ourselves.

My only slight criticism is that the word staunch is used excessively! There is no risk of forgetting the book’s name!

This is heart rending and honest, a book which makes the reader think. By no means an easy read -. it is shocking in places yet gripping enough that you don't want to put it down. A book to read in the height of #metoo.

I have a new goal in life. I want to be staunch.

Let me explain.

I like to think that I am not a person driven by fear. I don’t worry unnecessarily. I respond to things rather than over-thinking. However, for the past seven days (at the time of writing) I have been holed up in one room fearing the world. A virus is ripping through the country and because of my weakened immune system and the medication that I take to control my immune system I am not embarrassed to say that I am scared. Terrified, even.

So when I read something as uplifting, as courageous and as heart-warming as Staunch by Eleanor Wood I am genuinely given hope. This story of one woman’s admiration for the brave women in her family made me stop and pause, to reassess. I travelled with these ladies to their mother country. I shared their experiences – both good and bad. I revelled in their victories and had my heart squeezed by their failures. In truth, I lived their stories as I read the page.

It reminded me that whilst things are pretty crappy at the moment (and believe me, they are) that things will get better and easier and there will be things to look forward to eventually. It was the first fluttering in my belly of maybe one day being staunch.

Staunch by Eleanor Wood is available now.

For more information regarding Eleanor Wood (@eleanor_wood) please visit her twitter page.

For more information regarding HQ (@HQstories) please visit www.hqstories.co.uk.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to give a true and honest review.

This was not the compelling story of feminine strength I had hoped it would be. I felt their may have been some Bridget Jones esq humour but it sadly just fell flat.

The brutal abuse by her boyfriend physically sickened me and the amazing strong female relatives and the enlightenment of a trip to Goa felt sadly two dimensional and far from as enlightenment (Eat, Pray, Love), it came across more spoilt and indulgent.

The realisation of her lifes lack of direction and issues during therapy were interesting but again nothing that we don't all experience as women during our life.

I was looking for a strong feminist role model and found the author both repetitive at times and excessive in the use of "staunch", ultimately it felt like a means of convincing herself she was ok, and she is very normal but the story itself sadly felt lacking depth and true emotion.

Sadly this was not for me and I felt underwhelmed and disappointed in its conclusion.

Eleanor guides us through her life so far. The ending of a long term relationship as well as a couple of rebounds. Eleanor is now at the age where she is single and without children and finds herself wondering where her life is going. She looks at her nan and two aunts as women to look up to and aspire to be and joins them on a trip to India. These strong (I resist using the word Staunch as it really is overused in this book) women have led such interesting lives, growing up in India but then coming to England and pretty much having to start from the beginning again.

Eleanor is so lucky to be part of such a strong family who are just so supportive towards her and I don't doubt that she will continue to thrive with all of the love and guidance from all of the people in her life.

It took a while before I realised that this was a memoir. I don't know why but for such a long time I thought this was a work of fiction.

Unhappily existing in her mid-30s, Eleanor goes on a long holiday to Goa, India with her ageing Grandmother and Great Aunts. She spends the trip admiring the older women's' staunch attitude to life, reflecting on their personal journeys and comparing it to her own.

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been marketed as a memoir. I spent a lot of the time trying to work out why the story was being told in the way that it was, what point it was trying to make. Since discovering that it's based on the author's own life it explains the weak structuring of the story. This makes sense because real life rarely fits neatly into a compelling narrative but knowing it was a personal story would have helped me invest in the characters more.

This was a well written heartfelt memoir. There are themes that are hard to read sometimes. TW abuse and mental health.
I thought the writer did a very good job of displaying what she wanted to write about.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

From the first few pages I was hooked. I loved the modern writing style the funny little quips and I was really excited by this book. I loved all te flashbacks and history of life in British India as told through her Grandmother’s childhood growing up there, I thought it was so fascinating and something I know relatively little about. This worked well with the present day trip to India Elleanor took with her nan and aunties.

However alongside this we get the much darker story of her 20s and her dealings with bad relationships and abusive relationships. It was a difficult read at times.

I understand this is a memoir about her life, however it did feel like at times I was reading 2 completely different stories.
I’m left feeling a bit confused as to the overall message behind the stories - her 20s and her grandmother early life and then their trip to India. For me it just didn’t really fit together and as much as I enjoyed the book, it didn’t really work as a full concept for me.

TW - abuse + mental health

What better time to pick up a book about being 'Staunch' - overcoming things that are put in your way and finding a way to try and turn a negative into a positive - and for that reason alone I'm extremely glad that the shocking pink cover caught my eye and led me to read this inspiring memoir from Eleanor.

It's about her struggles in the past and the way that she is choosing to deal with them - for many of us that would be tough but on a trip to India with her nan and her 2 sisters, she finds a new meaning to life and a new way to approach the world. She learns so much from her elder relatives and I think they could teach us all a thing or two about confidence! They were an inspiration and I loved to hear the stories they told about their lives - how they moved from India to find a new life in the UK.

Eleanor had really gone through some struggles in her life - depression, bad boyfriends, loneliness, drugs, and the fact you become more invisible the older you get! So this trip to India was her chance to start over - she needed a break from life - and time in a new country gave her the space to focus on herself in a new environment and be inspired by those around her. It takes a look at her family and the dynamics within which were really interesting and her relatives on the trip taught her to laugh again!

It was really easy to read and the pages flew by as I got engrossed in her adventures. She talks about how therapy helped her too and I found it a really good read.

I loved this book. It was so funny, really current and just had self-awareness. I love that Eleanor was aware of her privilege and also just told her story and thankfully, her story is interesting, it's sad but mostly it's explained with humour and I just bloody love it. This book is one of those that came into my life at the right time and I think it definitely has played a part in why it got such a high rating for me but honestly I couldn't fault this book. Her life lessons and her closeness with the women in her family is lovely to read about, perhaps because my own situation is not similar. I really thought she did a good job of covering her family's history, their position and their lives. Mostly I think she covers a really good point that life looks like it's all set for people because they've lived it and they are older than us, but we forget that for most people this isn't the life they planned.

Would also note, like everyone else says, the blurb does suggest that this is a fiction book and you don't think they are talking about the author, but I also think it's my fault for not paying attention the name of the author and guessing it was about her. The way it's written also makes it read as fiction, but this also makes it so much fun!

I have to say that I really really enjoyed this book, I didn’t realise that this book was actually a memoir. The synopsis didn’t give you the impression that it was a memoir as it’s classed as Religion, Spirituality and Travel. I don’t really read many memoirs as some of them can be a bit hit and miss for me. This memoir however had me well and truly hooked before I finished the first chapter. The way in which Eleanor Wood has written her memoirs it’s more like an easy read story. There are lots of parts in the book that I think most women can relate to. Except the constant heavy drinking and drug taking, but maybe that just because I’m slightly older than Eleanor Wood.

The other thing I enjoyed was that she told us about how even though she is white British her family are actually white Indian (even though they are classed as British). As they were some of the last colonialists to leave India after the end of the second world war, when the British partitioned India in half to make two independent states. Indian and Pakistan. This partition caused all sorts of problems as people were having pack up their homes and make the long and also very dangerous journey from one side of the country to the other. People were being killed and murdered everywhere. It was also very dangerous for Eleanor’s family while they travelled through the country with being white as everyone blamed the British for such an up-evil.

Eleanor goes to India with her grandma and her grandma’s sisters, as an escort and a younger pair of legs to help them get around. While on this holiday Eleanor goes on her own trip of self discovery. Where she looks back at past relationships, how she didn’t handle rejection and things that she did in consequence of this rejection. Some of the actions she took because of this really aren’t anything to be proud of.

The main reason they all go to India is because for her grandma and her sisters it’s probably the last time they will be able to go back to their roots and see where they came from. They share lots of stories about their lives in India and what they had to go through to leave the county because of the partition.

The thing that Eleanor takes away from these three women is that they are Staunch women. That they have gone though some very tough and frightening times, and that with everything they have gone through they come out even stronger.

Eleanor realises that she wants to be like these women, she wants to be Staunch too. I think that most women will relate a lot to this book as I think we all aspire to being Staunch women. I think while reading this book I also went on a trip of discovery myself. Such a great and captivating read.

Reading Staunch I felt like I was reading a lighthearted humorous tale of a young woman’s adventure in India alongside three elderly ladies. Like a few reviews I’ve already seen, it wasn’t until sometime into this book that I realised it’s a memoir and written by a fellow Brightonian!
Eleanor takes us through the ups and downs of her life so far, detailing the end of a twelve year long relationship and a couple of very dubious ones in the wake of this break up. Like so many women in their thirties who remain single and childless or in aimless or damaging relationships,she questions where her life is heading and wishes she could be as staunch as her nan and two aunts whom she accompanies to India on a journey of self discovery.
With a timeline switching between and past and present I particularly liked hearing about the lives of Dot (Eleanor’s nan) and her aunts Rose and Ann. They have led interesting and colourful lives, beginning with childhood in British India and are portrayed as strong inspiring woman who embody the meaning of staunch in Eleanor’s eyes. Having to start all over again in the UK seemingly didn’t faze these three, determined to live the best lives they could. Her descriptions of living with three elderly woman, all with their own quirky ways are often funny as too are her anecdotes of street life in India.
I felt this was not just about Eleanor as an individual but her whole family who come across as happy fun loving people with hearts of gold. Whilst she herself is struggling with all that life has thrown her way so far which includes the disappearance of her much loved stepdad from her daily life, I think she is so fortunate to be part of such a loving family. They clearly are extremely supportive and its heartwarming how the narrative is suffused with the love Eleanor feels for all these brilliant women in her life. Nan and both aunts prove that age really is just a number and with experience and wisdom they can teach younger generations so much. They are just ordinary women but with so much spirit who prove to be ideal companions, sharing a laugh or a joke over a cocktail or a cup of tea and its impossible not to warm their characters and enjoy their stories.
Although I appreciate Eleanor is keen to convey how resilient and amazing the older women in her family are, I did get a little irritated by her overuse of the word staunch! (Minor criticism!) What I liked most about reading this memoir is that it’s really a celebration of the strength and power of women in general and the importance of strong bonds within families that crosses the generations. Having the support of girl friends is also crucial in day to day life and can really enhance our overall well being which Eleanor vocalises, making this memoir relatable to so many.
The ending felt hopeful and despite knowing that this woman continues to battle with her mental health, with the love of her family and a close group of friends surely her future happiness is within reach.
My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

Not really for me this book, the character was overly dramatic, self absorbed and the story the things that went wrong were too far fetched. I like a bit of drama but it still needs to be realistic, the main character I just couldn’t like or connect with.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I've ended up with very mixed feelings about this book. Eleanor ended up on holiday in Goa with 3 elderly relatives. As we got to know her back story interwoven with her holiday in Goa i found I really got to dislike her! The word Staunch appears far too often for my liking, it got boring! I suppose because it evoked such strong feelings it was a very well written book however I was glad to finish it....I still didn't like her! I've spent time in Goa so it was lovely to read about her surroundings during the holiday, well researched and captured the country and it's people well.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review

Sorry I could not get into this book at all. I did not like the main character at all. She was too self absorbed.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Ellie is 36 and at a crossroads. Life with a partner and children has not happened. She goes on holiday with her Nan and great-aunts to in India, the land of their birth. They had grown up in colonial India and were repatriated to Scotland after Partition.
The book follows what happened to the sisters during that time. White colonial India with all its privileges, servants and country club set life contrasting to landing in 50s Scotland in January and how the family thought of being British but no concept of what 'British' in UK was like.
The book explores how the sisters bore their life with the staunch of the title and Ellie trying to become more staunch.
A little rough round the edges but a worthwhile read
Thanks to #Netgalleyfor ARC for an honest review

My goodness - couldn't get past the start because the heroine herself turns out to be such a basket case and doing dreadful and terrible things knowingly but seemingly having no remorse for them and/or thinking she is so totally entitled. I couldn't get past the start, sadly - not someone I want to read about, just couldn't root for her