The Woman With All The Answers by Linda Green

 

Michelle Banks, wife, mother, and daughter, is exhausted and at the end of her tether. A hectic job, combined with having to look after her family and elderly parents is pushing her to the brink, the onset of the menopause isn't helping either. Luckily her smart speaker begins to offer solutions; luckily Alexa isn't AI but a real person, sixty-five-year-old Pauline who knows the family well.

Author Linda Green has been publishing novels for almost twenty years. I've heard the name numerous times but looking at her back catalogue I honestly don't think I've read any of her previous novels. After reading The Woman With All The Answers I'm beginning to wonder why I've never read any of the author's books before as I absolutely loved this.

Categorising The Woman With All The Answers is tricky. It's uplifting and features an older protagonist, something which is very popular at the moment. Alongside this it makes you sit up and think about some of the many pressures on society today.

The Banks family is a normal family. Mum, Michelle, is the heart of the family; the organiser, the carer, the problem solver. When she changed jobs to become a district nurse she hoped that her work/life balance would improve but it only seems to have got worse. Husband Marc works from home. He doesn't enjoy his job and boredom has resulted in him buying memorabilia from the internet, something the family can't really afford. Daughter Liv is about to take her A-Level exams but is struggling with crippling anxiety, she doesn't think she'll be able to leave the house ever again. Son Callum is the only one in the family who seems ok. He's about to take his GCSEs and is all loved up.

Michelle is part of the "sandwich generation", alongside caring for her immediate family she also has to look after her father and mother-in-law. Both are elderly and cause Michelle different problems.

Sat in the corner of most of the rooms in the house is the unassuming little smart speaker. Everyone thinks the speaker is powered by AI but in reality, it's real people behind each voice and the one dedicated to the Banks family is sixty-five-year-old Pauline from Halifax. The chapters alternate between Michelle and Pauline and when it's one of Pauline's chapters her Yorkshire accent comes through loud and clear. 

Pauline not only answers questions via the smart speakers, but she can also access lots of other devices and data too such as laptops, webcams, mobile phones and doorbell cameras. Pauline uses her access to all of these to prompt Michelle in the direction of help but after it becomes obvious that she is floundering Pauline makes her true identity known and together they look at solving all of the problems Michelle is dealing with.

Linda Green uses the story to raise many of the issues families are dealing with today; the pressures on teenagers, district nurses being too busy to spend any quality time with patients, and the elderly being left behind in an ever-increasing digital world are just a few. Women's health is a major topic, particularly the menopause. The nature of Michelle's job means that she is isolated, she has no close friends or colleagues to confide in. Thankfully, Pauline is there to push her in the right direction. Getting the help needed isn't always easy though. One moment I was filled with rage at the way in which Michelle was treated by a male GP, the next I had tears of laughter running down my face as she endured a cringe-worthy smear test.

Thanks to Pauline's help many of Michelle's burdens are lightened. The nature of modern life means that there are always going to be dilemmas, we just need to remember the saying "A problem shared is a problem halved".

The Woman With All The Answers by Linda Green will be published on 26th February 2025 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to Boldwood Books and the Bold Book Club for a review copy.