Sail Away by Celia Imrie

Ok so Sail Away by Celia Imrie should be a favourite on my blog site as after all it is set on a cruise ship !! I understand from reading the acknowledgements in the back of the book that the research for the storyline was actually done on the QM2 whilst on a transatlantic voyage, something your blogger (ie Me !! ) is off to do in 2 weeks time (and yes I can’t wait to go !!!).

Anyway back to the book and the author. Celia Imrie is probably better known for her acting work than her writing work but my research tells me this is Celia’s 4th book.

The story starts with the two main characters, Amanda who divorced and has two grown children and is going through the stresses of moving out of her family home to a flat in Pimlico, and Suzy a famous actress from the 80s who is down on her luck with roles and is desperately searching for anything to help pay the bills.

We flick between both of their trials and tribulations and we find that Amanda is made temporarily homeless when her flat purchase falls through after her sale has completed.  Looking for somewhere to stay temporarily she is rebuffed by both of her children and ends up in a hostel above a pub. Whilst looking for somewhere to live she finds out that her purchase may be back on but will take three weeks to complete so on impulse, Amanda decides to book on a cruise departing immediately from Genoa via Southampton across to New York.

Suzy meanwhile gets asked to join the production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to be shown in Zurich and although the money isn’t great she is pleased to get a lead role. She makes friends with most of the other production crew but finds 2 individuals, Reg, the director and Stan one of the other cast members quite strange and she struggles to deal with their deviation from the script. The cast eventually complete their rehearsals and they head out to Zurich in preparation for opening night. Jason Scott, the opposite lead is called at short notice the night before opening to a party hosted by the money man. The following morning as the cast arrive at the theatre they find the doors locked and the police arriving looking for the money man and Reg, telling the cast there will be no play as they believe the money man to be a fraudster.

Disheartened, the cast return to Zurich airport only to find that all of their return tickets have been cancelled and Suzy doesn’t have enough money of her own to pay for a flight. Whilst trying to sort things out she gets contacted by Jason who asks to meet her privately so he can tell her abit about the night before. Jason is cagey amd will only say he ended up calling the money man and Reg bastards before punching them both. He feels guilty that the show has been cancelled and offers to pay for Suzy to travel home with him by train.  Before getting the train however, Suzy gets a call from her agent to tell her that if she can make it to Genoa by 5pm there is a job on a cruise ship for her and at the same time one for Jason.

The both make it to Genoa in time and join the ship and that’s where we find the worlds of Amanda and Suzy collide.

What follows is a very light hearted murder, fraud and mystery yarn on the high seas as Suzy, Amanda and Jason travel across the Atlantic to New York, that keeps you interested but not necessarily blown overboard. In my own personal view, this was an ok read, but as an avid cruiser (as many of you will know) I found a number of unbelievable inaccuracies about life on board amd was especially surprised that the QM2 was used for the research. Trust me , if the QM2 was anything like the liner in Sail Away, you may never want to cruise again.

Despite the faults I found with this book, if I’m honest this will probably be a great read for the ladies who look at my blog, especially when you want a relatively easy story to read as you while your days away on a sun lounger on board ship this summer. It probably won’t feature on the read list for guys, but as I like to give a balanced view for all, I would give ‘Sail Away’ by Celia Imrie a 6 out of 10.

More information on Celia, her acting career and her books can be found at

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Imrie

So I’m just in the process of preparing for my cruise and getting my reading list downloaded onto my Kindle. I hope to do one more review before i go though !!

Happy Reading !

Canberralover 😊😊