Memory Road by Sarah Edghill

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Memory Road by Sarah Edghill

Lily is taking her elderly mother on a road trip around the UK, revisiting places which meant a lot to her.

It’s challenging because Moira can no longer be described as ‘a bit forgetful’; she has started singing Abba songs in public and talking to imaginary friends, and last week she tried to rip off her clothes in Poundland.

Genre: Romance | Contemporary | Humour
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

X (Twitter) #MemoryRoad @EdghillSarah @bloodhoundbook @KellyALacey @lovebookstours Instagram @sarah.edghill @bloodhound.books @lovebookstours

Lily is worried and embarrassed by her mother’s behaviour but, despite the recent dementia diagnosis, Moira is happy – albeit in a sweary sort of way – and insists the journey will help her write a memoir. As they clatter across the country in an ancient VW campervan, they’re intending to celebrate the past. But a chance encounter for Lily, means this road trip may also be about building a new future.

My Review

Three main characters, three generations of the same family, all living in Brighton. Firstly we have Moira, aged 79, strong-willed, feisty, but a bit frail and suffering the first symptoms of dementia. Sometimes she’s completely lucid, at others she can’t remember things she’s done that morning. She swears – a lot – and does odd things like dancing in the aisles at Asda or going for a walk without her shoes. But she wants to go on a road trip and has the full support of her doctor. It will do her good and she also wants to write a book about her life.

Then we have Lily, mid-forties, everyone’s doormat, from her mother and her ex-husband Nick, to her daughter Eleanor. Lily doesn’t really want to take her mother on this road trip, but she soon rolls over, and off they go in her rusty old VW campervan.

Finally we have Eleanor, high-flying lawyer, who always seems to be shouting at someone on the phone. She argues with Lily and with granny Moira. She thinks the road trip is a ludicrous idea, and even worse, she doesn’t think Lily is capable of looking after her own mother. So horror of horrors, she decides to join them part way through and bring them home.

In spite of the sadness of Moira’s dementia, it’s a feel-good book about family, friendship, love and hope. We meet a lot of people along the way including Oliver from Moira’s past life, the hilarious owners of the guest house in Keswick and a surprising love interest for Lily, who really deserves it. Because Lily has always just been the conduit in everyone else’s life and maybe she deserves her own happiness, as she points out at one point.

My only teeny weeny criticism is that the campervan should definitely have had a name, like Susan Calman’s Helen in her TV series Grand Days Out. I’m told Breadloaf is a popular moniker in some places, but I’m just going to call it something really simple like Wilma The Wandering Wombat.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #MemoryRoad blog tour.

About the Author

“I am the author of three published novels, the most recent of which is THE BAD WIFE. Like my previous two novels, A THOUSAND TINY DISAPPOINTMENTS and HIS OTHER WOMAN, this is a domestic drama, touching on issues which affect families and showing how the characters deal with crises that threaten to derail their lives.

“In 2024 I have three more novels being published by Bloodhound Books, the first of which will be Memory Road, which will be available from 1st March.

“Before turning to fiction, I worked as a journalist for many years, and during my career I interviewed hundreds of people with stories to tell. Listening to their experiences gave me a fascinating insight into humanity in all its guises: what makes people tick and how they react to whatever life throws at them. I aim to write books that suck the reader in: plots that keep you turning the pages and characters who work their way inside your head. The sort of books where you have to read just one more chapter before you turn off the bedside light at night.

I live in Gloucestershire with my husband, three (almost grown-up now) children and far too many animals. If you’d like to find out more about me and my writing, please visit my website – www.sarahedghill.com.”