Sophie Green's new novel Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel is a warm-hearted new novel about friendships, fresh starts and finding yourself.
Set in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula in 1999, the story chronicles the lives of Joan, Frances, Alison and Kirrily, four different women who come together through a unique bonding experience, and share more in common than they realise.
We start with wife and now grandmother Joan, who has checked into the grand old Duchess Hotel to find herself again, after 35 years of being who her husband and family have wanted her to be.
Peninsula local and soon-to-be octogenarian Frances is distracting herself from getting old, and avoiding her self-interested son by escaping to the warmth of the Duchess where the hotel staff treat her like the person she still is. Meanwhile Frances's daughter, Alison, is trying to manage significant disruptions at home while hoping to finally prove to her mother that she's just as worthy of love as her brother.
New to the Duchess, hotel maid Kirrily is feeling the weight of a lifetime of responsibility, struggling to balance bills and work and family, and keeping thoughts of how there must be more to life at bay.
With its old-world glamour, sprawling seaside grounds and air of possibility, the Duchess Hotel might just be the place to help the women rediscover who they are and bring some spark back to their lives.
When Joan decides to pick up a brush and start painting for the first time in decades, she inspires Frances and Kirrily - and, eventually, Alison - to join her. Over canvas, conversation, and creativity they will learn that you should always hold onto your dreams and that new friends can give you the courage to live life on your own terms.
Sophie Green is an author and publisher who lives in Sydney. In her spare time, she writes about country music on her website, Sunburnt Country Music.
We have one copy of Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel by Sophie Green to give away, RRP $32.99 Fill in your details below to enter the draw.
https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/8688760/art-hour-at-the-duchess-hotel-win-sophie-greens-new-novel/?cs=6770We have one copy of Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel by Sophie Green to give away, valued at $32.99.
Entries close Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 11.59pm AEST.
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