The Runaway Wife

By: Dee MacDonald

Narrated by: Diana Croft

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Hilarious! I loved every page...reminded me of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry." - Dawn at Crooks on Books

One evening in early August, while mashing potatoes for dinner, Connie McColl decides she’s had enough. Sixty-six-year-old wife and grandmother, Connie, is tired of solving one family crisis after another, while her husband Roger spends all day at his beloved golf course. Surely it must be time for her to shake off her apron and start living again? So Connie packs a bag, gets in her little green car and drives off.

On her journey from England to Scotland, Connie stops in on long-lost friends and makes all sorts of interesting new companions along the way. As Connie has the time of her life, sleeping under the stars and skinny dipping in the sea, she finally begins to rediscover herself. And she starts to wonder, will she ever be ready to return home? Or could this summer change her life forever? 

Connie’s begins to discover that it’s never too late to have some fun and you’re never too old for an adventure.

The Runaway Wife is an inspiring and joyously uplifting novel. If you loved The Kicking the Bucket List and A Man Called Ove then this funny audiobook is for you. 

What listeners are saying about The Runaway Wife:

"A warm, funny, brilliant read! I love the warmth and humour that jumps from the page. Connie is proof that you’re never too old to have an adventure! I LOVED the ending!!!!" - Sue Watson

"What a breath of fresh air! Wry and sharply observed, I was rooting for Connie the moment I met her. Fabulous!" - Kat French 

©2018 Dee MacDonald (P)2018 Bookouture

Laugh out loud

Very enjoyable, hilarious at the end!, sad in some places, yet thought provoking story, proving it's never too late to make a change in your life if you're not happy. I look forward to reading more of the author

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

A Joy from start to finish!

I LOVED this book!!!!! A delightful journey! The writing was wonderful and the narrator made it come alive!

Feel Good Tutorial for Young to Old Marrieds!

A light funny listen you won't want to pause! Soooo true to life! Some aspects of this life story line are seldom written about and are well appreciated. Every married person will identify with something in this novel; it is well written at a good pace, narration is excellent story telling. Her second novel is not in audio format. Too Bad...

Loved it!!

I myself am at a similar stage & the book truly spoke to me in several area. Glad I took a chance on it since I really did buy “a book for its cover”!

A fun read

Nice light and entertaining book with some interesting twists. Enjoyable read. Would recommend a good fiction novel

I'm sure I'll listen many more times!

I loved this book! I want to spend more time with Connie and all of the colorful people she met on her journey. The characters in this story are multi-dimensional. And real. I smiled alot while listening. The narration is right on; a perfect compliment to the story. It's very easy to tell who's speaking. I just finished listening for the second time and picked up a number of things I missed previously. Would love to read more by Dee MacDonald!

Totally hooked!

This book was amazing! I’m a 30 year old woman who enjoyed listening to the life of this 66 year old run-away wife. I wish I could hear more of the amazing Connie.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A wonderful experience!

This has been a wonderful way to fill my time on my long train journey. The characters were great and their story took me on a journey of laughter, sadness and a realisation that life really is for living whatever our age. An audiobook is a fabulous way to experience the story. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a smile, laugh and occasional tears.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Just ok

I can see that I’m in the minority here but sadly I found this story just didn’t hit the spot for me personally. I like an occasional easy read and this one was nice enough, but I found myself zoning out quite frequently. I felt that too many of the secondary characters weren’t fully developed (although I loved Kath) which stopped me from fully engaging and caring about them. The general narration wasn’t bad at all, but some of the accents were awful (they seem to get worse the further north Connie travels!) I do wish that otherwise good narrators, who just can’t do accents, wouldn’t be hired to take on this sort of work where so many are required - I find it so distracting! I’d say that if you want a “brain off” book or a palette cleanser after a few too many gritty listens, then this would be worth a go - it’s inoffensive.

Adored every bit of it

Great story, great characters, fantastic narration, I'd give it 6 stars if I could. No hesitation in recommending this book to anyone.

Story moves at a good pace to keep you wanting more - you are never bored with this one - and the narration really brings them to life.

You do get behind the main character and want to know what else she is going to get up to.

Only thing I'd wanted more of was the ending, but it wrapped it up well and hopefully there will be a sequel. I dare say Connie has only just started her adventure. Maybe the continent next? What would Roger say?!

Great fun!

Who could fail to fall in love with Connie McColl? A wife, mother and grandmother for so long she's become part of the furniture. There can't be many women who didn't find some aspect of her troubles were relevant to their own life. When she escaped onto her journey of discovery, I cheered for her. She maintained her dignity throughout. Some of her adventures made me smile, others made me weep, but Connie remained a heroine for every exhausted woman from John O'Groats to Land's End. Exquisitely narrated by Diana Croft, the essence of Connie captivated me and held me close. I so hope and pray she finds the happiness and respect she truly deserves. Applause all round for this joyous book

He Runaway Wife

A wonderful, funny and sentimental story. Brought years of laughter and of sorrow to my eyes.

Wonderfully uplifting story

I absolutely loved this story (as did my mum!). As the main character, Connie is wonderful. I felt like I was with her every second of her journey, thought she was brilliant and am missing her already. It feels like such a cliche writing this but I am fully giving into it, throwing my arms in the air, grinning, hugging myself and sighing in the warm, fuzzy afterglow of a simply lovely story, that made me feel happy.

This reminded me very much of the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I also loved. That too is about a character from an older generation looking to find himself whilst travelling the country and meeting lots of people on his journey. This is what appeals I think - the adventure, the random meeting of all sorts of different people along the way, the acceptance of all characters, the individual journey each is on, the fragility of human life and the essence of goodness that is at the heart of most people (not all... but all in these stories!).

In today's fast paced, social media driven, highly political world, with scary and often horrific global events being fed to us by the minute, everyone able to comment on everything, people hiding behind keyboards and so much nastiness and hate filled written messages targeted at others who don't even know each other... It is easy to think and feel that the whole world and all people are a threat. So reading books like this are uplifting because they are a reminder that actually there is a lot of goodness, kindness and lovely people out there, each trying to live their lives the best they can.

I enjoy these stories that involve going off on an adventure and staying away from home for an extended period of time and gradually learning more about themselves, to the point where they get to a destination of self discovery. It's the grown-up version of running away from home, but with hotels, a car and money! It feels both an honour and great fun to accompany these individuals on their journeys. In this case, Connie, who feels quite trapped in her marriage, taken for granted by her husband and grown up children. She loves her children very much and feels very lucky to have her family but needs to rediscover who she is and not just be there for everyone else. And rediscover herself she certainly does - Connie, hats off to you, 66 years young and taking control of your life. Good on you, you lovely lady.

The narration was perfect - a gentle tone and impressive range of accents. Connie's trip around the UK certainly set a challenge there... she threw down a gauntlet and Diana Croft swept it up with aplomb!

I received a foc review copy of this story (as an audiobook) from the narrator via Audiobook Boom. This has in no way influenced my review.

So much fun I didn’t want it to end!

This lovely story captivated me within the first few minutes. As Connie had adventure after adventure, I grew more attached to her and the thought of her returning to her old lifestyle filled me with sadness and I found myself tearing up for her!

The story includes several characters that in real life would be considered rough or unsavoury but each one turns out to be a gem and is a little mini life lesson on not judging a book by its cover. I think we should all try to be a bit more like Connie.

The performance of this book by Diana Croft is second to none. She always reads each character so individually that you can clearly picture them all as the story unfolds. I don’t know how she has mastered so many accents and voices! She is amazing!

This book would be enjoyed by women who feel stuck in a rut and who long to escape. The story is refreshing and hilarious! I did find myself laughing out loud quite a few times!

And now I’m sad that it’s over and I miss Connie already. :(

What an Adventure!

I have only dreamed of escaping like Connie did in this wonderful book. Dee MacDonald wrote some very endearing characters, some eye opening scenes, some heartbreak, and fun humor. To me it was extremely touching how Connie cared for her friend and another supported her. I loved seeing that good in people. The imagery was wonderful. I loved the travel and names of the cars. Diana Croft performed the book wonderfully. I loved the emotions she added and the accents of characters. The second chance at finding one's self was really well done.

what an adventure!

wow what an adventure , I felt like I was right beside Connie the whole time she was travelling , meeting some amazing people , having laughs and drama and some sad moments too :( this was a brilliant listen and highly recommended, I absolutely loved Connie but I'm sad the story has ended I need to hear more about her life , I want to know more about 'Don Juan' and also what happened next with Roger ! the story however all wrapped up nicely and I'm so glad I got a chance to share the journey, Dee MacDonald has weaved a magical story but Diana Croft brought it to life !