7 women spend a week in a cabin in the snowy woods between Christmas and New Year. How many couples is that? Well, that’s the root of the problem.
Cracking writing by Georgia Beers, this one will stay with you long after you’ve read it, and bears up to a second reading, which I don’t say lightly. The depths of relationship despair are not shied away from and are cleverly written.
The middle-of-nowhere getaway is hosted by owners and role-model couple (Woman A: butch wood chopper and general silent type, not averse to slamming baddies up against the wall and giving youngsters a good talking to. Woman B: quite a bit younger, loves long baths, is a bit of a matchmaker and a chef, so the catering is naturally divine). We open with them having a lovely time and lots of loving sex. Then their 5 friends arrive, get to know each other, get drunk, eat lots, play games, go for walks in the woods and basically just hang out together. All sounds lovely and relaxing, doesn’t it? It’s not. Taken out of their normal, busy, stuck lives, and fuelled with plenty of alcohol, everything bubbles up to the surface. There is weeping, smashing, fighting, kissing, shagging and shouting. There is a horrifying scene that breaks romance conventions… and then doesn’t. Phew. Heart-stopping. Mother nature lends a helping hand in everyone’s personal transformation and this leads to a finale involving a lot of noisy sex and a new year / new start ending that is ultimately uplifting.
She Sighed! 