One Day I Shall Astonish the World

Stibbe’s (Man at the Helm) account of a quirky on-again, off-again friendship is a home run. First-person narrator Susan starts with the day that she met both her husband and her best friend Norma. Listeners are then privy to the evolution of these relationships as they follow them for a meandering 30 years. Norma is the classic unreliable friend, always ready to call on Susan for help and encouragement but not there for her in the same way. Susan’s more conventional life, marriage, and family allow Norma to feel superior at times but her seeming resentment of Susan’s daughter, Honey, may signal that she has regrets. Narrator Joanna Scanlan is witty and charming throughout. She is 100 percent convincing as Susan, a no-nonsense woman who is doing her best she and never spends a minute on self-pity. This novel isn’t packed with action or dense plotting, but Stibbe’s slices of everyday life are engrossing.