Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve
The seductive charm of Provence, a beautifully crumbling old house, a group of strangers coming together for two weeks and there to discover hidden talents or realise a method in producing a best-selling book…… it is a scenario straight from many a struggling writer’s dream.
Kat Hale has written a novel based upon her parent’s tragic love and her published work sold well in Australia. She decides not to divulge this to her fellow aspiring attendees. Instead she poses as having difficulty with her writing, the genre, its development and conclusion. The others, Jane especially, do not have this hurdle to overcome
Each day, in her room, Kat focuses on her journal and a novella, hoping this will overcome her creative block.
The retreat Is owned by Helen who is married to a gifted chef, Gabriel, and the business is organised and directed by Belinda. The trio have a mutually beneficial relationship but with undercurrents that gradually surface. Helen desperately wants to be able to use some of Gabriel’s grandmother’s recipes which are classic French country delights. However there are obstacles that stand in her way. A journal of fascinating historical value is also unexpectedly unearthed in the attic. Another current of suspense begins to flow.
Ugly words like plagiarism fester and some of the idyllic atmosphere evaporates.
An Englishman, Ed, is both supportive and kind. He is attempting a funny book for children and at times shares extracts with Kat, with a warmth bordering on romance.
On a group trip to a restaurant famed for its bouillabaisse Ed is openly entertained by her love for the dish, as she savours every mouthful.
The Writers Retreat is a gourmet’s heaven. The book is generously sprinkled with descriptions of breakfasts, brunch and dinners. Ingredients are freshly sourced
from the market with its wheels of truffle cheese, artichoke tapenade, piles of dried sausages and cups of peach nectar. A daube enjoyed at dinner made Kat long to replicate its recipe. Brunch became arrangements of fresh stone fruit, homemade muesli and granola with a variety of yogurts, pastries and baguettes. The list extends to dessert – a pear cake, lemon meringue and chocolate eclairs.
The food descriptions are mouth-wateringly real but some of the main characters remain shadowy. Kat writes in the first person, so she has substance, but I found Helen, Belinda and Mark to be silhouettes, hovering near the action. Gabriel and his culinary creations are far more significant.
Altogether they do manage to convey a slow mounting tension but Kat’s anxiety is the key feature to this. Expectation of an imminent crime arises, but the possible motive is quite flimsy so that when at last a gun and threat to life happens, it comes as an anticlimax.
Victoria Brownlee has written a highly enjoyable account of a group meeting in a writers’ retreat with all the aspects of an idyllic interlude in provincial France. It cannot fail to charm and most of the book is devoted to this. The suddenness of the confrontation at the end, and its outcome, is unsatisfying. The plot deserves a more carefully thought out resolution.
The Writers Retreat
[2026]
by Victoria Brownlee
Affirm Press
ISBN: 978 1 7616 3826 8
$34.99; 304pp