Every woman has a story. As publicity manager at one of the
biggest health insurance companies in Ireland and also the
mother of two little girls, Mel is jealous of moms who stay
at home. At 23, Cleo is fresh out of college and ready to
help revitalize her family's aging local hotel, if only her
father and older brothers will listen to her advice. Daisy
is a successful buyer for a chic designer shop, but her
longtime lover doesn't want a wedding, and she is longing
for a baby that she can't seem to conceive. Everyone's
future looks bright, until Daisy is suddenly single, Cleo's
family kicks her out of the hotel and Mel gets laid off
from her job.
An American woman, Leah, spent a year renovating an old
mansion to open Cloud's Hill Spa in Carrickwell, where all
three women live. Motivated by her own personal tragedy,
Leah helps each woman see that the secret to surviving is
seeing your life differently. Nobody has all the answers,
but friendship and taking care of yourself can help make
you beautiful from the inside out.
Delightful and believable characters populate this charming
country town on the outskirts of Dublin. Savor this story,
which interweaves the paths of four women, each with their
own challenges and changes, friends and families. In
addition to the beauty treatments, these women benefit from
the comfort and support they receive at the spa. The
dialogue made me laugh, the women's experiences made me
cry, and I loved every page of it. This Cathy Kelly
novel guarantees satisfaction for women's fiction readers
looking for a feel-good story of female friendship.
When the going gets tough...
In the Irish town of Carrickwell, with its lush, endlessly
rolling hills and authentic country tranquility, three
women's lives are anything but calm. There's Mel, a
compulsively ambitious mother/publicity manager at a high-
powered PR firm -- living proof that balancing motherhood
and a full-time job is no walk in the park. The hot-headed,
indomitable Cleo, just out of college with a degree in
hotel management, would like nothing better than to
modernize and revive her family's dwindling hotel -- but
faces a constant battle with her old-fashioned parents. And
finally, there's the stylish, sweet-tempered Daisy, a self-
consciously curvy fashion buyer for an upscale clothing
boutique, who has been struggling -- and longing -- to have
a baby with her absolutely perfect boyfriend. Although
unconnected, these three women have one thing in common:
they all need a break from their stressful lives.
...these tough gals hit the nearest spa!
So each one sets out for a little R & R at the new Clouds
Hill spa, built by an American woman with her own secret
turmoil. It is there that Mel, Cleo, and Daisy meet --
their worlds and troubles colliding -- forming an intimate
bond that helps them to realize what matters most in life,
always and forever.