When her husband David announces he’s been offered a job in New York, Saoirse is thrilled. The glamour of the big city, the shopping, the culture, not to mention the free Manhattan apartment and business class airfare – what’s not to like? There’s just the small matter of making it work for their daughter, five-year-old Anna, who isn’t so keen to leave her friends and school behind.

The Big Apple in the middle of summer isn’t quite the holiday Saoirse envisaged, and with David away with work, New York apartment sizes on the minuscule side, and the pace of life faster than the sleepy London suburbs, solo ex-pat parenting pushes Saoirse to her limits.

And as the pressure builds and ‘faking it till she makes it’ isn’t cutting it, there’s only one thing for it – Saoirse and Anna need a new plan, and ‘Winging It’ might be their best option…

Emma Murray returns with this laugh-out-loud funny, compulsively page-turning adventure about parenting, traveling, and finding your tribe – on both sides of the pond. 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Eventually, I do what I always do when faced with a complex problem: I push it to the back of my mind and pretend it doesn’t exist.

 

I do everything in my power to stop my face from falling. Just when you think you’ve found a new friend, she turns out to be in the PTA.

 

‘Well, I don’t mean to generalise but I’m not sure if Americans are into swearing,’ I say, hoping I haven’t offended them… Roars of protest follow. Darcy’s voice is the loudest. ‘Of course I swear!’ she says indignantly. ‘I have five kids and a husband who still hasn’t learned the kids’ soccer timetable, or how to take out the trash.’ … A feeling of pure exhilaration fills my chest. Maybe, just maybe, I have found my American tribe.

 

This is our first time celebrating Thanksgiving and I really enjoy the festiveness of the occasion. Mind you, I think it’s fair to say that Anna doesn’t quite grasp the concept: her teacher laughingly told me that when she gave a smooth rock to each of the kids and asked them to paint what they were grateful for, Anna wrote ‘iPad’ when everyone else wrote ‘Mom’, ‘Dad’, ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’. At least David and I know where we sit in the pecking order.

 

‘Come on, Mummy!’ Anna says, pulling at my sleeve impatiently. ‘Jen is having a connip-shit!’ A fit of giggles rises up in my chest. ‘I think you mean “conniption”.’

 

My Review:

 

This was my introduction to the cleverly amusing wit of Emma Murray, and I found it good fun as she kept a near-constant smirk on my face during perusal. The storylines were comical, engaging, original, and easy to follow. I enjoyed all the characters as they were generally likable, realistically flawed, and accessible and even the obnoxious ones were humorously entertaining with knowable and recognizable traits. I look forward to reading this author again and again.