Willa’s Grove

De: Laura Munson

Narrado por: Xe Sands

You are invited to the rest of your life.

Three women, from coast to coast and in between, open their mailboxes to the same intriguing invitation. Although leading entirely different lives, each has found herself at a similar, jarring crossroads. Right when these women thought they’d be comfortably settling into middle age, their carefully curated futures have turned out to be dead ends.

The sender of the invitation is Willa Silvester, who is reeling from the untimely death of her beloved husband and the reality that she must say goodbye to the small mountain town they founded together. Yet as Willa mourns her losses, an impossible question keeps staring her in the face: So now what?

Struggling to find the answer alone, fiercely independent Willa eventually calls a childhood friend who happens to be in her own world of hurt - and that’s where the idea sparks. They decide to host a weeklong interlude from life, and invite two other friends facing their own quandaries. Soon the four women converge at Willa’s Montana homestead, a place where they can learn from nature and one another as they contemplate their second acts together in the rugged wilderness of big sky country.

©2020 Laura Munson (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Tedious book. Great narrator, but...

...even Xe Sands can't make this ponderous bag of literary rocks achieve animation. Wayyyy too much focus on religion (for me, personally). I'm an introvert. I sometimes devote *days* to introspection. This book made me want to throw a loud street party. The parts (not nearly enough, descriptive enough or informative enough) out in nature were what interested me. Otherwise? Boring. Predictable.

Will never forget this book!

I picked the book originally for the narrator, love Xe Sands, but was handed a gift I won’t forget. This book touched something in me that was very personal. Many years ago I lost my husband and faced what now. The author led me on a journey that I didn’t want to end. Highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever had or is having a what now.

What a fabulous book

I adored this book. It was an excellent exploration of the question of “what next” for each of the characters who were all at a midlife crossroads but who truly faced different futures from their last and from each other. Her writing was captivating and gripping, and I was swept up in the emotional journey. It was both cathartic and healing. I highly recommend it, and the narrator was outstanding.

A bit laborious, but well worth the read

Sometimes sad and honest are synonymous and Willa’s Grove is both. Upon the sudden death of her husband, Willa Sylvester is faced with the reality that she will have to sell her husband’s dream, the town he named after his beloved wife: Willa, Montana.

Thirty-five people reside in Willa, Montana, and Jack and Willa employed, assisted, housed, or otherwise cared for each one of them. Once Jack passed, Willa’s grief holed her up in their home and away from their friends, the residents of Willa. Months later, after crawling out of her grief enough to come up for air, Willa learns Jack’s secret: They are broke. There is no money.

At the behest of her oldest friend, Bliss, Willa invites three women, a friend of a friend situation, to join her for the final week before the auction that will sell the town of Willa, Montana. The women converge on Willa’s home and learn the intricacies and beauty of wilderness, Montana, and being a middle-aged woman. And each carries their demons of their mid-life with them, hoping to find a resolution.

Bliss: desperately wants a child but has recently been abandoned by her husband. Harriette has fallen from the public’s grace as a motivational personality and is living as a hermit, and Jane has it all, a doting husband, four perfect children, wealth, community, society, and a lover. She will have to figure out what makes her happy: family or freedom.

Willa’s Grove is difficult to read in that it is a story about real life, the actual raw realism that befalls women of a certain age - we have lost ourselves to the “supposed to” of life. This was supposed to have happened, or that was supposed to have worked out, or he was supposed to have been with me to the end, or my children or career were supposed to have fulfilled me.

There were times when I wondered why am I still reading? It would have been easier on me to have DNF’d this one, but then I would have missed out on the community of the book, the “I am not alone” feelings, the “It’s okay to just be and be where I am” understanding that came with finishing the book.

Beautifully written, I feel that Willa’s Grove will fly under the radar because of its difficult storyline, but the storyline is exactly why it needs to be read.

I want to give this book a 4/5 because it made me uncomfortable, and for that reason alone I realize it is a solid 5/5. We need to read (and do) more uncomfortable things.

Amazing

Such a beautiful message. Gift this book to a few friends who are at their "So now what?".

Dragged on forever…

Ugh. Dragged and dragged but it hung on to the end because I wanted to find out what happened. The narrator was very good but the story was like a heavy blanket.

Forever grateful to Laura for this gift

I stumbled onto this book while researching the possibility of a writer’s retreat to attend this year. What a powerful labor of love!! A story that grips the heart on so many levels, yet delivered with such tenderness. Bravo to the author.

Beautiful Book

An elegant book and you’ll fall in love with each of the women, their stories and the beautiful descriptions of Montana. I didn’t want the book to end. It’s a five star in every category.

Loved this book

First let me say how much I enjoy XE Sands as a narrator. I love her voice, and the way in which she expresses each character. She's definitely one of my favorites.

About the book itself... Maybe it's my age and/or where I am in life, but it really spoke to me. How many times have I asked myself "what's next"? It can sometimes be overwhelming to think about, especially having to make all the decisions, particularly the hard ones, alone. I love the idea of community, and I would like to create a tight circle like the one between Willa, Bliss, Harriet, and Jane. That kind of support is priceless.

"What to let go of, and what to recieve" has given me ideas of where to start my new adventure.

Thank you, Laura Munson, for this inspiring book. It really does take a village.

My favorite

I’ve listened to this twice which is rare for me. Wonderful story and fabulous narration.