Looking For Eliza, Leaf Arbuthnot
Looking For Eliza, Leaf Arbuthnot
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Looking For Eliza

Author: Leaf Arbuthnot

Narrator: Julia Franklin

Unabridged: 9 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Trapeze

Published: 05/14/2020


Synopsis

'Clever, warm and funny' - ADAM KAY

'Beautifully rendered, thoughtful and original' - Pandora Sykes

'A marvellous read' - Ruth Hogan

Ada is a widowed writer, navigating loneliness in Oxford after the death of her husband. She has no children. No grandchildren. She fears she is becoming peripheral, another invisible woman.

Eliza is a student at the university. She finds it difficult to form meaningful relationships after the estrangement of her mother and breakup with her girlfriend.

After meeting through Ada's new venture, 'Rent-a-Gran', and bonding over Lapsang Souchong tea and Primo Levi, they begin to find what they're looking for in each other. But can they cast off their isolation for good?

An exquisite story of connection and loss, and how a person can change another person's life. Full of heartache yet joyful and life-affirming, this is for fans of Normal People, Expectation and Sarah Winman's Tin Man.

'Leaf's writing is warm and lyrically funny - she has an eye for details both sublime and ridiculous.Looking for Eliza is an intelligent and big-hearted read with the human condition at its core.' - Harriet Walker, The Times

About Leaf Arbuthnot

Leaf Arbuthnot is a freelance book critic and journalist. She has written for the likes of The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Vogue and The Spectator. Subjects of her interviews include Hilary Mantel, Prince Charles, Jilly Cooper and Ellen Page, and she is a judge for the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020. She studied modern languages at Cambridge and lives in south London. Looking for Eliza is her first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Louise on May 15, 2020

Ada is a poet and recently widowed. For the first time in her life ahes feeling lonely. She put up adverts for a "rent a gran" service and that she will do anything from cooking advice to babysitting. Eliza is a student at university. She finds it hard to form meaningful relationships. She's estrang......more

Goodreads review by India on March 27, 2021

Looking For Eliza is a beautiful tale of loneliness and cross-generational friendship. I found this book gloriously original, having never read anything before taking such a close look at the meaningful friendships that can be forged across generations. I shed real tears as Arbuthnot painted such a......more

Goodreads review by La Libridinosa on August 01, 2023

Due protagoniste che si incontreranno solo dopo 200 pagine, in maniera abbastanza strana, diventando immediatamente anime affini. Un finale forzoso e raffazzonato che, più che commuovere, fa alzare gli occhi al cielo. Questi sono gli ingredienti di quello che risulta essere un romanzo un po' insapore.......more

Goodreads review by charlie! on January 14, 2023

it was quite cute really such good vibes and it did feel a little sally rooney but not quite poor ada in the last few pages though i think being attacked was a tad dramatic, poor woman......more

Goodreads review by Alice on June 04, 2022

Just beautiful. I loved Ada and eviza. Was beautiful and sad but so comforting......more


Quotes

A love story of intergenerational friendship that is perfect for these divisive times. Leaf's writing is warm and lyrically funny - she has an eye for details both sublime and ridiculous. Looking for Eliza is an intelligent and big-hearted read with the human condition at its core.

I've never read a love story quite like Looking for Eliza, and it has absolutely stolen my heart. This tale of two intelligent, charming, eccentric, and lonely women who reach across a generational gap in order to create a beautiful friendship with each other filled me with joy, delight, and pathos. How beautifully Leaf Arbuthnot has shown us that the one we've been looking for our whole lives might be living right across the street, quietly working in her garden. I loved this book.

A wonderful story about the redemptive power of an unexpected friendship. Leaf's characters are fresh, engaging and beautifully drawn. A marvellous read.

Beautifully rendered, thoughtful and original

Clever, warm and funny

A joyous, big-hearted novel about community - just the tonic for our times Cosmopolitan

A heart-rending book about connection and the optimism of the human heart The Lady

A heartfelt story about an unlikely friendship Evening Standard

A tender-hearted tale of the redeeming power of friendship. Mail on Sunday

Never has a book about cross-generational friendship and looking out for your neighbours been more timely Daily Mail