Willa’s Grove

Reviews

“Women have always searched for community during life’s critical crossroads, but it’s the rare novel that nails the tone and tempo of what it feels like to embed with kindred spirits and share stories, joys, and fears from the heart. Every reader will relate to this beautiful story in powerful and personal ways. I cherished my time with Willa’s Grove, sitting in this circle of women who, by the end, felt like best friends.”

“This is the novel we need right now. Willa’s Grove is an affirmation of creativity, sisterhood, and the power of belonging. The simple act of taking care of one another moves mountains. Don’t tell anyone, but I think Laura Munson might have just made me a better person.”

“I love this wonderful novel about women, friendship, and our deep-rooted need for community. Laura Munson has created a memorable and deeply relatable character in Willa Silvester. You’ll want to give this book to your best friend the minute you finish reading it.”

“Willa’s Grove is the book my heart needed right now. When I finished it, I held it to my chest and took a long, deep breath. It’s a love letter to female friendships, to the power of vulnerability, to the strength of community, and daring to live authentically. An absolute must-read.”

“Reading Willa’s Grove is like going to a girls’ weekend where everyone spills their guts and tells the truth about their apparently not-so-perfect lives. It’s truthful, raw, and, well, totally fun.”

“[A] stirring debut…Against the backdrop of a gorgeous landscape and an abundant kitchen, Willa’s Grove shows the insights, comfort, and courage that women can find in community. It just might inspire you to seek a community—and a new adventure—of your own.”

“A story of new friendships and old desires, secrets and regrets, Willa’s Grove is just the midlife vacation read every woman needs to spur her on and grab hold of ‘So now what?’ I didn’t read this aching and inspiring novel as much as wrapped myself up in it, following the heartache, yearning, and triumph in each woman’s personal story.”

“Laura Munson has captured the magical safe haven of her Haven Writing Retreats in the pages of this gripping novel about four women who come together to work through the daunting what’s next midlife question so many of us face. I saw pieces of myself in each of them as they soothed, challenged, supported, and ultimately triumphed, inspiring me to do my own exploration. This book is one that will sit on my nightstand for quite some time.”

“Women all-too-often provide for everyone but themselves. There’s new data to suggest the most important protector against an early death is a circle of friends who love and support you, and who make a lasting commitment to ask and answer, So, what do we do next? Willa’s Grove is a novel, yes, but inherent in these pages is the stark truth about the inevitable magical highs and crushing lows of women’s lives. It reminded me that we have to find our tribe, nurture it, and hang on.”

“So what’s next? That’s the big question in the fiction debut from memoirist Munson…Readers will be able to relate to the themes of female friendship and personal growth.”

“This novel is intended to be an inspirational story, and it delivers. Many women readers will find themselves represented by one or more of the characters…Men, too, can learn from the characters’ experiences. They might come to understand the women in their own lives better, as well as find their own secret anxieties represented and tackled through the story…Willa’s Grove offers a pathway to writing one’s own new story.”

"Willa’s Grove is an easy read with a captivating premise: what happens when four women, each in a mid-life crisis, gather for a week in rural Montana to ponder the answer to the question: so now what?”

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