Novel of a road trip through France to CARTAGENA

29th October 2026

The Women Who Ran Away by Sheila O’Flanagan, novel of a road trip through France to Cartagena.

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I do love it when a novel opens and there is a good map included. Here, two women, Deira and Grace meet on the ferry from Ireland to Roscoff, each dealing with untoward events – Deira intends to drive to Brittany and Paris on her own in a stylish convertible, when, in fact, the trip had been planned with her ex-partner Gavin. The car actually still belongs to him (she mustered her courage and snaffled it after he did the dirty on her); and Grace has a container of her husband’s ashes, which she will be releasing at a chosen point. They meet over dinner and then just happen to bump into each other en route through France, in Nantes.

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And then there is a mystery tour designed by recently deceased Ken Harrington for Grace, and as chance would have it, Deira had been taught by him many years ago. She has a sense of the ways he might plan the treasure hunts, often with a pronounced literary theme because he had created them for his students. What a coincidence!

Clearly the stars are aligning and then there is a fire, and these ‘two injured soldiers’ who have certainly seen life, are now destined to spend time in each other’s company. They mull over where they are now, the regrets, the pleasures and the individual destinies, and the author is very skilled at the chitchat and pondering that can blossom between women. And just maybe a new kind of life awaits just around the corner….

There are plenty of interesting literary inclusions as the women reflect on their lives past and present. It’s on to La Rochelle and Pamplona, through Spain with a bit of Lorca in Granada, with further clues to decipher.

This is a nice, fun read with a few serious issues at its heart. You will always find that Sheila O’Flanaghan creates great characters and sets them within a good story and location.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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