Agnes Oliver wrote a book, a novel narrated by the woods. It’s a strange book, but it’s a bestseller. But Agnes still feels just as nervous and insecure as she did as a child. When she took a flight to New York City for her book tour, she sat in first class, next to famous movie director Jack Verity. And he was reading her book. And he recognized her from her author photo. Agnes was stunned. She had long been a fan of one of his early movies, one he had made with his ex-wife Geia Stone.
They talk a little about what she will be doing in New York and how he’s going to the Hamptons to spend time with his girls, the two daughters he has with Geia. He ends up coming to one of her book signings, and then he—the Jack Verity—invites her out to the Hamptons to celebrate his birthday with his family.
Agnes agrees to go, but she’s very nervous to meet his ex-wife. Geia is not only a gorgeous actress, she is an influencer with a huge wellness brand named Goddess. Goddess includes make-up and skincare, clothing, cookbooks, and a special health water that really does make Agnes feel better. Agnes is intimidated by her, but also confused. The woman has a wellness brand, but she eats potato chips and drinks alcohol. She can cook up an amazing dinner, but her latest boyfriend is young and doesn’t seem interested in Geia’s wellness brand or her acting career or anything beyond what he’s staring at on his phone screen.
But when Geia invites Agnes on a 10-day retreat on a small Greek island, Agnes feels compelled to say yes. She’s struggling to come up with an idea for her second novel, which is already late to the publisher. Maybe the retreat will help her write? And she gets the offer to write about the retreat for Vogue, which makes the offer to go even sweeter.
But as soon as Agnes shows up, something feels off. The island is beautiful, and the retreat is filled with women who worship Geia. When Geia wears a white linen dress around the hotel, most of the women buy up white dresses of their own from the Goddess Market set up there. Their days are spent in a variety of wellness classes, where they talk about intentions and breathing and self-care. They lay on the ground in the forest and listen to the trees’ roots. They learn makeup tips for the organic, vegan, clean skincare items Geia has created. They share secrets. They learn self-love.
Agnes tries to understand the things she’s seeing. A lot of Geia’s brand is fairly typical wellness influencer items. But Agnes can’t help but feel that there is more going on. That Geia is hiding something. Most nights, Agnes can’t remember how she got back to her room, but she wakes up in the morning in her bed, in her pajamas, each morning. There are rumors about strange happenings in the hypnotherapy sessions. Agnes is torn. She likes Geia and is falling for Jack, but she also wants to write an honest article. She wants to be friends with Geia but she also wants to be honest. What will it take for Agnes to break through her writer’s block? Can Geia actually heal Agnes, or has Agnes stumbled into something that’s beyond her ability to deal with?
Goddess is also a strange novel, but it has some genuinely interesting moments. It’s a statement on wellness gurus and their, um, goop. But it’s also a story about a woman trying to heal from childhood trauma and find her voice again. It’s pretty smart and a little awkward and while I had to set it down from time to time to catch up with where it was going, I did stick with it all the way to the end. And that ending was far more satisfying than I expected it to be.
I can’t give a blanket recommendation for Goddess, as it’s not a novel for everyone. It feels a little experimental, like something I would stumble over in a bookstore and not quite love but not quite hate and keep thinking about from time to time. There are some challenging scenes to read, but there is a lot to think about, so I do hope that this book finds its audience. But I would recommend reading a chapter or so before you decide to jump all the way in on this one.
Egalleys for Goddess were provided by House of Anansi Press through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
