Anyone who has had children, especially more than one, can empathize with Gigi, the protagonist in When I Ran Away.
Gigi is on maternity leave in London after the birth of her second child. She is new to London, having moved recently with her British husband, Harry, and her adopted son, Johnny. Overwhelmed by motherhood, a new culture, and anticipating the anniversary of her brother’s death on 9/11, Gigi is struggling emotionally. One morning, she reaches her limit and walks out of the house with her wallet, phone and keys; leaving Harry to care for the kids. During her breakdown at cheap motel, readers learn how she has come to be this emotional wreak.
Gigi and Harry, acquaintances who work in the same Lower Manhattan building, meet while escaping the chaos of 9/11. Harry has nowhere to go, so Gigi brings him to her parent’s home on Staten Island. At the end of this tragic day, the family realizes that Gigi’s younger brother Frankie was at interviewing for a job at the restaurant, Windows of the World, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. Harry is the calm in the storm as Gigi and her parents grasp the reality that Frankie has died in the terrorist attacks. After friends descend on the grieving family, Harry leaves.
Ten years later, Gigi and Harry run into each other and rekindle their friendship which quickly turns romantic. In the intervening years, Gigi has adopted Johnny, the son of Frankie’s best friend. After marrying, they move to London for Harry’s job. Gigi works and gets Johnny settled in private school. She is thrust into a world of privilege which is unfamiliar, befuddling and unsettling for her, the daughter of working-class parents from Staten Island.
The isolation of a new city, a new baby and no friends or family become too much for Gigi, culminating in her walking out of the house on a Wednesday morning in August 2016. While Gigi is escaping in a crappy motel with wine, cigarettes and the Housewives of various cities, we learn how Gigi came to this day. The details, emotions and relationships in Gigi’s life are complicated but familiar. It seems clear to me that she has postpartum depression, but that term is never mentioned. Harry is desperately worried: texting and calling throughout the day. Finally, he brings out the big guns and calls her best friends in New York.
When I Ran Away is an honest and funny, Gigi has a great sense of humor and finds London and Londoners amusing and confusing. Her story could be so many women’s story.
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