The Switch - Beth O’Leary

Me? I love a debut novel! But I also love seeing what an author does after that. Do they even go on to write another and how does it compare with the first? Is their style recognisable in the second book? Do you get a sense of where they’re at as a writer? So I was delighted to get my impatient, little hands on a limited edition (Number 37 out of 125, who wants to touch me?!) signed proof of Beth O’Leary’s The Switch.

'Eileen is sick of being 79.
Leena's tired of life in her twenties.
Maybe it's time they swapped places...

When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.

Once Leena learns of Eileen's romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.

Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn't as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?'

Reader, she’s done it again! I think it’s better than The Flatshare! Shoot me, do, if you must, but that’s what I feel. She’s something of a writing witch who casts a spell over me!! On paper I shouldn’t enjoy either book! I don’t DO chicklit, romance etc. But I do do Beth O’Leary!! As with the Flatshare there’s a balance that doesn’t allow the book to fall firmly into any other genre than uplit. For whilst there’s much sadness in The Switch it’s ultimately feelgood with a clear message about getting older and dealing with the dreadful things that life can throw at us.

I suspect, too, that for me, because I AM older I exulted in a novel that has a greying protagonist as well as a younger one. The story acknowledged that just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean that everything stops working! Yeah, we still want, no need, love, companionship and…….. the benefits of that! This book makes it quite clear. Hurrah!

And if Tiffany and Leon were memorable characters then prepare yourselves for the silver tornado who is Eileen!  I want to be Eileen! Subjectively I am biased towards her but objectively Leena, her granddaughter, is as endearing and as rich a character. It’s a delightful tale with an original twist on the swapping lives theme because it’s a location swap. Of course that provokes some subtle considerations of how people adapt to their surroundings like chameleons. The two locations, as different as they are distant, threaten a displacement of comfort zones which make for a intriguing read. Clever, too, because there’s something for everyone, young or old, something to relate to. 

I did recognise a style in this second book and recurring themes of love, loss, ageing, caring and taking the time to understand people and burrow beneath their veneers to see what really makes them tick. Plus it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s compassionate. With several plot lines working in tandem with each other, much like the Flatshare, the narrative bounces along without plateauing.  I think this second book firmly establishes Beth O’Leary not merely as mistress of her genre but as queen of that genre!!

I’m sure this wasn’t planned but what a perfect time for publication? Whilst we are in the throes of this pernicious pandemic and enduring the limitations imposed on our lives what better way to take ourselves out of our despondency and into another world for a few hours to emerge feeling better than when we began. 

My thanks to Quercus Books for a copy of this tale.