Tough resilient , proud, frail, amazing and stubborn ,this is Veronica McCreedy aged 85 and she has just discovered that she has a living relative, a grandson, Patrick. As she discovers her grandson she also becomes intrigued with the hardships endured by the penguins of Lpcket Island and becomes determined to visit the research station there.

This proud character grew on me as did this quirky and well researched story. Thanks to Terry's blog, we learn that the penguins sense of family, hardship and endurance is nothing short of amazing.

An unusual tale but well worth reading.

Firstly, the cover is amazing! Absolutely stunning cover which attracts you to the book immediately! I have one word to say about Away with the Penguins, and it is Wow! The book is stupendous. I was blown away by the storyline, the wonderful characters and the setting! I loved every part of the book and the magnificent, 85-year-old Mrs McCreedy will stay with me for a very long time. The book shows you that in life you have to push your boundaries, step outside your comfort zone, do everything that you wish to do if you can. With the support of her grandson and friends at home and in Antarctica, Mrs McCreedy did just that! I adore Mrs McCreedy - I loved her unique ways, her adventurous soul, her feistiness, her determination and her spirit which shined through on every page.

Away with the Penguins is one of my favourite reads this year. I am now addicted to Penguins and learning all about them! The book was so informative about Penguins which made me want to find out even more! The blog was fascinating and the research which has gone into the book was immense. Highly highly recommended. 5 stars ++++! Thank you for a wonderful wonderful book. Just brilliant!

I really enjoyed this. Great characters and the diary entries from Veronica's teenage years really helped to explain her charcter is her later years. And the addition of penguins was great - really informative.

It took me a while to fully get into the story but I enjoyed Mrs McGreedy's old fashioned sense and traditions mixed with how the world is changing. Is it changing for the better? Her adventurous spirit and her engagement with the penguins made this a unique but satisfying read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Wow!! This book is my favourite read this winter!
Fantastic characters, great story, had me gripped from the first word to the last.
Veronica McCreedy has started watching programmes about Penguins and becomes determined to visit them on the islands of Antarctica.
The book deals with so many interesting and very real issues that are widely experienced by so many. Refreshing to have some realism instead of superficial glitz. The characters and story have stayed with me.
Very impressed by this quite brilliant tale. Thank you!! Will be looking out for Hazel Prior again!

Drawn in by the adorable cartoon cover and the prospect of reading about my favourite waddling little birds, I was delighted to be granted the opportunity to read an ARC of Hazel Prior's 'Away with the Penguins'. The story centres on Veronica, an 85 year-old lover of penguins, who embarks on an adventure, both to discover a long lost grandchild, Patrick, and visit the Antarctic to spend time with the endangered Adelie penguins on (fictional) Locket Island. We see her experiences with the team of penguinologists (a job I am deeply unqualified for but now desperately want!) and how she grows as a person, proving it is never too late to find satisfaction from your life.

In part, this is a lovely book: Veronica bonding with the penguins and her grandson in equal measure is adorable and enough to melt even the coldest heart. The issue lies with the pacing and cohesion of the narrative, particularly with the repeated shifts to Terry's penguin blog and the interspersed flashbacks to Veronica as a teenager. The diaries unravel her past, and how she got to be a lonely, unfulfilled lady, but the fragments are presented in a haphazard way, making it difficult to truly empathise with what Veronica experiences.

Overall, this is a cute story and had a satisfying sense of closure for all characters at the novel's end. However, do not be fooled by the cover - there is family drama and angst in spades from multiple characters so strap yourself in for something a bit more depressing than you may have signed up for. Worth it though, especially if you love penguins as much as Veronica does (count me in).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Away with the Penguins is quite unlike any other book I have come across and I was rather entranced by it. In fact, I would go as far as saying, it's one of the best books I have ever read!

It's about an 86 year old multimillionaire called Veronica, who lives alone in her mansion on the Scottish coast. The only company she has is her housekeeper. Veronica is aware of her aging years and decides to find a worthy cause for her vast legacy. She also wants to see if she has any unknown relatives anywhere.

As a huge lover of nature, Veronica finds out about a penguin conservation project in Antarctica that is seriously lacking in funding. She sets off to Antarctica to live on the base for three weeks to find out what they do, and as much as this may seem far-fetched it probably is feasible if you have that much money.

I just loved Veronica. Yes, she was forthright and prickly, but that just made her interesting and funny. She was a typical upper class British eccentric and totally believable.

I didn't particularly like Patrick's character to start with. He irritated me so much I almost gave up on the book. I'm so glad I kept on reading as I began to warm to him and the rest of the story was so captivating, it really didn't matter so much. He almost had a childlike personality and as the story unwrapped, we begin to find out more about his past and could empathise with his lifestyle. His character developed tremendously.

There are several dimensions to this book but they all flow effortlessly. There is a blog about the penguins which is fascinating, as was the whole penguin experience. The birth of the penguin was especially wonderful. Equally as important as the blog were the excerpts from Veronica' s teenage diaries. They were extremely moving and as beautiful as they were tragic.

I found Away with the Penguins to be extremely moving and entertaining and I highly recommend it, especially if you love penguins. Once I got past my initial blip, I really didn't want to put it down.

Naturally, the book talks about climate change and extinction and how we need to act now to prevent that from happening. It was very informative and enjoyable.

Away with the Penguins has spades of determination in its characters and a bit of everything too - from resilience, quirkiness, strength. Overall it was great to see the characters lives unfold amidst the harsh yet mesmerising penguin colony in the Antartica.

For me this story was a slow burner. It took me a while to get into it, but when I did I enjoyed it. What I did love was the unusual storyline and of course, the penguins. A lot of research has been done. The blog running through the book was clever too.

My usual book preference is for the crime/thriller genre, I read a lighter, gentler style sometimes after a particularly heavily themed book. So I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.
The main character is Veronica, or Mrs McCreedy, as she likes to be known. She is a formidable character, who is set in her ways, and uses her sharp manner as an armour to stop others getting too close.
Veronica has few things she enjoys, the Telegraph crossword, Darjeeling loose tea and
her love of the natural world. After watching a wildlife TV special, she falls in love with the Adélie Penguin, and decides she must help financially with the research and protection of the species. Once she has decided on her course of action, nothing will stand in her way. As the story unfolds, she learns many things through, and because of the Penguin colony, and one special little Penguin in particular.
This is such a charming book, perfect escapism for the autumn and winter, guaranteed to put a smile on your face. A gentle, kind book which provides the reader with the antidote to the worries of 2020. Definite 5* from me.

I read an advance copy of, Away with the Penguins, by Hazel Prior. This book was ok, I found some of the characters annoying. Their were too many characters, going back and forth.

Much like the lead character, this book starts off a little difficult to love but by the end its a total joy. I loved Veronica and the way we slowly found out more about her past. I loved her burgeoning relationship with Patrick and most of I loved the penguins! A funny, touching, lovely story of one woman finding herself at last through the magic of penguins.

I have wanted to read this book for some time, knowing very little about it except that it seemed to be universally liked and very uplifting - perfect recommendations for a book. As soon as I started reading I became fascinated by the main character Veronica McCreedy - I rather like these literary octogenarians with their grumps, unreasonableness, disillusion and disconnection with life. Veronica McCreedy (‘Very’ to her loved ones who are few) - is something else - she insists on having the door closed, she loves Darjeeling tea, she lives in Scotland and although she doesn’t think so, in a very gentle and sometimes comic way, the book reveals she is becoming very forgetful. As we turn back to Veronica’s past we begin to understand what has led to her unhappiness, but also how much she has survived and what a strong and feisty woman she was and is. Her father told her that, ‘There are those who make the world worse, those who make no difference and those who make the world better.’ Veronica, like many of us, wonders whether she has made the world better and determining to make a difference, she sets off to Antarctica to observe work at a field centre studying penguins. I enjoyed the chapters on Locket Island which are often comic - toilet facilities, food, relationships are all strained with the arrival of Veronica and not quite what she anticipated. These scenes are the most compelling of the book - the beautiful white frozen scenery, the gradual development of friendships - both with the staff and with her long lost grandson. But it is the penguins, particularly Pip, who steal the show with their antics, their nun like appearance, their gutsy survival. I loved the parallels between the fierce love and nurturing instinct Veronica bestows on her baby and that which she feels for penguin Pip. Terry says, ‘ This place ..it gets right into your heart and soul..’ I think that’s exactly what this book does. It is an absolutely joyous read. With very grateful thanks to Netgalley, Random House U.K. and Transworld Publishers for a digital copy of this book.

Although I initially found this slow going and I struggled to connect with Veronica I’m glad I persevered because I really enjoyed it.
Veronica is in her mid eighties and lives alone, with her cleaner Eileen coming in every day. Although she has the occasional memory lapse Veronica is sharp as a tack and won't be taken for a fool. She is also incredibly rich.
Thinking about her advancing years she decides to hire someone to trace any family she may have left and discovers the son that was taken from her when he was a year old, had a child, her Grandson Patrick.
When Veronica meets Patrick, she finds him stoned and very rude and hostile so she makes a decision. She is going to leave her vast wealth to a Penguin research facility she has seen on television but first she wants to visit the facility, in Antarctica, for 3 weeks.
Although Dietrich, the head of the facility, tries to dissuade her from going, Veronica is determined and she arrives during the arctic spring.
While Veronica is in Antarctica Patrick is reading her diaries from when she was a girl. As the story of Veronica's young life unfolds Patrick finds himself changing his opinion of her and begins to find a connection with his Grandmother. When tragedy strikes, will Veronica and Patrick have the chance to explore their family ties or have they left it too late.

Amazing story. Something so different. It was recommended to me and I am so glad it was. .This the second book that I have read by this author and love her writing. It is lovely hearing life from a mature persons point of view.The main character was stuborn and wise . I also loved the grandson. A brilliant read

This story has an interesting premise; wealthy elderly lady decides to visit Antarctica to find out about penguins and possibly leave her millions to their research. It certainly caught my interest. The characters are diverse and well developed and add in some backstories, misunderstandings, romance and, of course, penguins; there is certainly a lot going on in this story.

Unfortunately for me, it didn't grab me, it took me a long time to get into the book. I found it jumped around a lot and didn't quite gel. I found myself racing through it to find out what happened and I never fully engaged with any of the characters.

This is a story with a difference and it will certainly, I am sure, appeal to a lot of people. If you like penguins then this is a book for you; there are certainly a lot of penguins in it.

Just loved "Away with the Penguins". Although the story is a little far fetched it is so whimsical and well written that it doesn't matter. I especially like the way that the writing style differs for Veronica and Patrick. Granny V is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Recommended.

Veronica is 86 years old and wealthy. She has connected with a long lost Grandson but feels he doesn’t deserve her inheritance. Instead, having watched some wildlife documentaries and blogs, she thinks about leaving her money to a research station in the Antarctic investigating Adelie penguins. But first she has to see for herself! So, although a virtual recluse she plans a trip to this inhospitable part of the world, despite many objections.
If at first Veronica and the Granson Patrick seem unlikeable, through diaries and circumstances their personalities develop and they become different people. The penguins become another dimension, especially one little baby penguin. It’s a wonderful journey, exquisitely written with an underlying message about our planet. Totally heartwarming and original. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

A lady by the name of Veronica McCreedy lives by herself in a mansion by the sea.

She loves watching a good wildlife programme wit a nice cup of Darjeeling tea. But, she’s never seen without her ruby-red lipstick.

But, at 85 she’s never visited by anyone and she’s always home alone.

She’s often found collecting litter thrown by people who should be shot according to her or trying to locate her glasses, shouting
instructions to her assistant, Eileen, such as “Eileen, door!”.

She doesn’t have family, friends nearby, not that she’s aware of anyway. So she’s no idea where or to whole she’ll leave her wealth, when she dies, and she has a considerable amount

So, she’s makes a decision. What is that decision and what impact will it have on her life??? Will it change the life as she knows it???

Loved it.

Veronica McCreedy is a judgmental and opinionated woman, but one who can also see beyond people's first impressions. Well, in the end that is, she needed a bit of help to get that far. Yet she can't quite give up manipulating others in getting her way, or as Patrick (not the penguin) describes it as '(she) likes to make things difficult for everyone.' For which she looks chuffed, as if it's a compliment.

A lovely book that I happily add to my for-a-rainy-day shelf!