This month’s international women’s book club reading told the story of Grace, a 72-year old widow who abandons her gray life in England to take possession of a small house she mysteriously inherits in Ibiza. A retired maths teacher, Grace needs to solve the puzzle of this unforeseen event. She is plunged into a world where an encounter with La Presencia wakes her up to life in the present tense and the goodness she never acknowledged in herself. Her journey brings her to a place of inner healing and restored connection with people and nature. From the genre of magical realism, the story brings out the destructive power of unwarranted guilt and the far-reaching effects of everyday kindnesses. It reflects the author’s personal journey back from the cliff’s edge, in a celebration of second chances at any age.

Andrea Blanch, November 2025