Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld for this ARC.

This is the third and final installment of Veronica McCreedy's adventure with the penguins after Away with the Penguins and Call of the Penguins, and it takes place two years after the last book, when 87 year old Veronica realises a local Sea Life Centre is at risk of being sold to a developer and the 24 resident penguins at risk of being euthanised.

She decides to do a charity walk of 100 miles in a month, just like the King penguins do every year. Her menopausal housekeeper Eileen (yes, the phrase "Come on, Eileen" is used) and sweet little Daisy, now 11, decide to accompany her as "The Three Mackateers". The first part of the walking route is in Scotland but her old friend Sir Richard Attenborough, sorry, Sir Robert Saddlebow (come on, we were all thinking it!), arranges for them to fly out to the Galápagos islands before travelling on to the Falklands where Veronica is being bestowed the title of Penguin Ambassador. The last part of the walking journey will be to Antarctica to visit her old friend, little penguin Pip as well as her grandson Patrick and his girlfriend Terry. So far, so wild.

The story is narrated in dual POV by Veronica and Eileen, interspersed by Daisy's penguin blog that gives us lots of facts about penguins in an accessible and easily understandable tone.

I was very jealous of the travelogue. I loved reading about those beautiful places, lovingly described, and with an abundance of wildlife - penguins of course but also tortoises, iguanas, flamingos, blue-footed boobies and sea lions.

Now, Veronica is not everybody's cup of tea, and I can understand why. She is snobbish, brittle and rude, making no attempt to get people's names right for example. But underneath the sniffy façade is a big, warm heart. Veronica loves Daisy, Patrick and the penguins and is very fond of Sir Robert and Eileen who she learns to appreciate a lot more during their voyage. She realises she is getting older and often has word-finding difficulties, but is otherwise sharp as a tack.

Plotwise, there is a lot going on as both Eileen and Daisy battle through some personal crises, and Veronica's plan hits several snags. However, "The survivors are the ones who can adapt most quickly to change", so solutions are found. There is even romance blossoming though it  comes a bit out of left field. To be honest, the whole story is pretty unbelievable but when was it ever not?

The one criticism I have is that it's slightly overlong - 50 to 100 pages fewer would have been perfect.

This is a charming, wonderful romp of a book, chock full of quirky plot and characters - a fitting ending to a great trilogy. Highly recommended.