A brilliant book. It starts with a woman abandoning her car in traffic and the story slowly unfolds explaining how she got to that point. Absolutely recommended.

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood
This is the author’s debut novel and it certainly deserves the hype with which it is accompanied. I was captured by Grace as soon as I began. She is a woman teetering on the edge, her whole world is collapsing around her and when she finds herself in a traffic jam attempting to get to Lotte’s (her16 year old daughter) party something finally snaps.
She abandons her car in the middle of the road and begins her struggle to get to her daughter. She encounters many different people and receives kindness and admonitions as she travels. I loved her horror when she was described by someone as in her late 40’s she is only 45! I also loved her encounter with the man on the zebra crossing and the young man who she meets as she sits on a garden wall.
As she makes her desperate journey we flash back in time to discover about her life; her meeting with Lotte’s father and her amazing ability with languages. We also discover the life which she gave up to become a mother.
I really empathised with Grace and felt her pain as her family life unravels. The true depth of her suffering and what caused her life to implode does not emerge until near the end of the book and we weep along with her. The book is about loss and making the wrong decisions but ultimately it is also suffused with hope. I will be recommending this wholeheartedly to my various book groups and would like to thank Fran Littlewood, Penguin and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this amazing book in return for an honest review.

Grace Adams has had enough. so, finally, she does something about it.

She leaves her car in a traffic jam, and starts to walk...to try and put her life back together.

I came to this novel with no expectations but thought the synopsis sounded interesting. Grace Adams is an amazing creation and the author portrayed her realistically and with real empathy and sensitivity. Grace's life is falling apart- her husband has left and wants a divorce and she is estranged from her teenage daughter who is living with her father. The story is told over the course of a day in Grace's life and moves backwards and forwards from the day Grace and her husband Ben first met and looks at the development of their relationship and Grace's relationship with her teenage daughter.
I found this to be a really relatable read, it was intense and covers serious topics but as a middle aged mum I was so grateful to see a character like Grace championed. I feel that the novel and Grace will stay with me for a long time. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Amazing Grace Adams is destined to be the read of the year.
Grace is unravelling and fast. Her daughter won't speak to her - her husband has moved out and wants a divorce and she has just literally 'had enough.' On the way to collect her daughters cake - Fran gets out of her car, abandons it on a busy London road and walks across the city to collect and deliver her daughters 16th birthday cake.

Littlewood's writing is raw and touching. Grace has issues and the book flits between events in the past from years ago to months ago and back to the future so the reader gets a whole sense of why Fran is unravelling before the readers eyes.

Each issue that is presented in the book builds up a picture and each issue leaves the reader empathising with Fran. The story has an unseen twist which is incredibly moving.

A definite recommended read!

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done an amazing job at creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Very honored for the opportunity to read this book. As someone going through some hard times right now this book really resonated with me. Full review to follow both here and on the blog. I was so invested in Graces story and so ready to read her journey to not only saving her family but herself along the way.

Grace Adams is one bad day away from saving her life.

One hot summer day, stuck in traffic on her way to pick up the cake for her daughter's sixteenth birthday party, Grace Adams snaps.

She doesn't scream or break something or cry or curl into a ball. She simply abandons her car in traffic and walks away.

But not from her life - towards it. To the daughter who won't live with her anymore and has banned her from the party. To the husband divorcing her. Towards the terrible thing that has blown their family apart . . .

Today she'll show her daughter that no matter how far we fall we can always get back up again. Because Grace Adams was amazing. Her husband and daughter once thought so. They and the world might have forgotten. But Grace is about to remind them ...