When I Ran Away

Ilona Bannister

From Shelf: Two Fond Recommends Books where Motherhood Isn’t Easy

A rich, bighearted debut that takes us from working-class Staten Island in the wake of the September 11th attacks to moneyed London a decade later, revealing a story of loss, motherhood, and love found in the most impossible of places, perfect for fans of Gail Honeyman and Ann Napolitano.

'Smart, brave and often very funny . . . profoundly moving' Sarah Haywood, author of The CactusThis morning Gigi left her husband and children.Now she's watching Real Housewives and drinking wine in a crummy hotel room, trying to work out how she got here.When the Twin Towers collapsed, Gigi Stanislawski fled her office building and escaped lower Manhattan on the Staten Island Ferry. Among the crying, ash-covered and shoeless passengers, Gigi, unbelievably, found someone she recognised - the guy with pink socks and a British accent - from the coffee shop across from her office. Together she and Harry Harrison make their way to her parents' house where they watch the television replay the planes crashing for hours, and she waits for the phone call from her younger brother that never comes. And after Harry has shared the worst day of her life, it's time for him to leave.Ten years later, Gigi, now a single mother consumed with bills and unfulfilled ambitions, bumps into Harry again and this time they fall deeply in love. When they move to London it feels like a chance for the happy ending she never dared to imagine. But it also highlights the differences in their class and cultures, which was something they laughed about until it wasn't funny anymore; until the traumatic birth of their baby leaves Gigi raw and desperately missing her best friends and her old life in New York.As Gigi grieves for her brother and rages at the unspoken pain of motherhood, she realises she must somehow find a way back - not to the woman she was but to the woman she wants to be.An unforgettable novel about love - for our partners, our children, our mothers, and ourselves - pushed to its outer limits.