Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel

A warm-hearted novel about friendship, fresh starts and finding yourself from Top Ten bestselling author Sophie Green Mornington Peninsula, 1999. All Joan ever wanted was to be a painter, but after thirty-five years of marriage, she finds she is simply a wife, mother and good citizen. On a whim, she escapes to the grand Duchess Hotel to find herself. At the Duchess, Frances drops by most days to escape her daughter, Alison, who seems intent on putting her in a home, while hotel maid Kirrily is struggling to balance work, family and her dreams. When Joan decides to pick up a brush and start painting again, she inspires Frances and Kirrily - and, eventually, Alison - to join her. Over canvas, conversation and creativity the women learn to hold onto their dreams and live life on their own terms. 'A great book club pick [for] fans of Elizabeth Strout's Lucy by the Sea, Meg Bignell's The Angry Women's Choir and Joanna Nell's Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year' BOOKS+PUBLISHING 'Deftly crafted by an author who knows how to conjure her characters, where to put them and which stories they will tell to evince a swathe of emotions in each of us' LIVING ARTS CANBERRA and such a great armchair escape' THE VILLAGE OBSERVER Praise for the novels of Sophie Green 'Atmospheric and incredibly descriptive, reading a Sophie Green book is the greatest escape' WHO MAGAZINE 'Heartwarming, fulfilling and Australian as a lamb roast and full-bodied shiraz' THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY 'A warm treat of a novel, filled with great music and small-town charm' WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN 'Reading this book was like snuggling beneath a warm beach towel after a bracing dip in the ocean' JOANNA NELL