For a podcast, The Shift with Sam Baker. Journalist, author, and broadcaster, Sam Baker is blazing the trail in rewriting everything we think we know about what it is to be a woman post-40. She’s smashing taboos all over the place. Her wide-ranging interviews with incredible, interesting women—from Isabel Allende to Minnie Driver, Ruby Wax to Ruth Ozeki—are thoughtful, smart, honest, and full of insight, humor, and wisdom. Tags AMAZING GRACE ADAMS is both a story about one woman having to find herself again, and rebuild her relationship with her daughter. How did these facets of the story work together? Did you find yourself rooting for Grace? A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.

I LOVED Grace Adams! With all my heart! As a woman of a certain age she was so relatable. She could have been me. I could have been her. She was funny and frank, forthright and feisty. But as the story unfolds and her layers are shed you realise that there is so, so much more to this remarkable woman. Her rivers run deep and I felt my heart breaking for her as the circumstances of her life are slowly revealed. Prior to writing the novel, Littlewood was a financial journalist. She signed up for a creative writing MA as a “last chance” stab at a dream. An uplifting tour de force with a heartfelt message that will make you laugh and cry. It's the perfect January read. In her amazing Grace, Fran Littlewood has created an unforgettable heroine Irish Independent AMAZING GRACE ADAMS is a book unlike anything I've read before. I wasn't truly hooked on this one until the second half, and then I just couldn't walk away. To be honest, I didn't like Grace much in the first half. But I think that was kind of the point. She's an unlikely character, an unlikely person, with a certain set of traits that make her difficult to deal with, both as a partner and as a parent. In dealing with the massive problems she experiences with her family in the course of this book, Grace experiences a great deal of growth. And so do we, as audience members, in being granted the opportunity to be this close to someone who is so fraught with emotion and yet unable to manage or express it. This can be an uncomfortable read, but it is well done.Women of a certain age, and perhaps all women, are living vicariously through Grace Adams. Without a doubt, these micro-aggressions are not limited to those going through a life change. Fran Littlewood's sparkling debut novel, Amazing Grace Adams both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, bottles these micro-aggressions and gives women a champion. Grace Adams is also the latest in a series of brilliant, beautiful and privileged protagonists (Amy Dunne, Bernadette Fox, Barbie) undone by the challenges of modern womanhood." — The New York Times Book Review A gripping story of joy, grief, stress, worry, love at first sight, parenting...frank, nuanced, and evocative.”

Readers will relish the letting loose of one woman's long-suppressed righteous rage . . . Spectacular Mail on Sunday Amazing Grace Adams is an exacting and brilliantly structured novel about love, grief, hope lost and then found again. I rooted for Grace from the first sentence." I loved it. Vivid, visceral and incredibly emotional. I laughed and sobbed' TIM MINCHIN, multi-award-winning composer/lyricist of Matilda The Musical, comedian, actor, producer and director

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Tender, funny and unapologetic, Amazing Grace Adams is the fiercest debut of 2023, about a woman - and a story - you'll never forget The situations are (mostly) totally relatable, the raw pain and loss palpable and, at one point, I found myself stifling a sob! Grace, the main character, voices the feelings of many women, with humour and irony in the writing. The ‘out-of-control’ may feel exaggerated, but is it really? How many of us have felt out of our depth, dealing with teenagers who live in such a different world?

A BIG “Thank You” to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for gifting me this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review! The sides of the car are closing in on her and she can smell burned plastic. How are they not moving yet? Sitting here like this it’s reminding her of something—a book, a TV show, a screenplay … she can’t remember. She can barely remember her own name these days. Slumping in the seat, she tries to bring to mind the things she hasn’t been able to recall recently. But, of course, she can’t. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so terrifying. Like a part of her brain dropped out when she was looking the other way. The novel is rich with themes of love, hope, joy and grief. What are some examples of these themes in the book? Are there any moments that encompass all four? What lessons did you ultimately take away from Grace’s storyBut behind the scenes, Grace's life is in freefall. Her husband is divorcing her. Her daughter has banned her from her birthday party. And Grace has just abandoned her car in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The author mentions in her parting note that this plot is inspired by the movie ‘Falling Down’, so perhaps fans of that movie might like to give this a try. I haven’t watched that movie so I cannot make a comparison. Once, Grace Adams was poised for great things. Now, she barely attracts a second glance as she strides down the street carrying her daughter's sixteenth birthday cake. All in all, I had expected to love this book for it promised a strong middle-aged woman protagonist who had finally had enough of everyone taking her for granted. But the potential isn’t truly realised and the book ends up as an average read for me. The writer does have a lot of promise – it is no mean task to keep three timelines blending seamlessly. But perhaps a bit of editing and finetuning would have helped, especially in the over-the-top second half.