Lake Union Publishing
August 2025
Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen is a gripping novel. No matter what book Bowen writes, readers feel they are taking the journey with the characters and are transported into the setting. The descriptions of the town and its residents are very detailed.
“It is a story about invisible women. Middle-aged women can be conceived as no longer physically attractive. I noticed this many times in my own life after I became a certain age. Miss Marple is invisible with her knitting as nobody notices her. She sees and hears everything. I wanted to write how women were not treated well by life or had lived someone else’s life. I also wanted to write the strength of women bonding and how they could blossom into the people they should be. These three women were not treated well and has a sense of belonging.”
Readers meet Ellie Endicott in Surrey, England during 1938. After raising two grown sons and having devoted her entire married life to catering to her husband’s needs, her husband wants a divorce. He has met a younger woman and tries to bulldoze Ellie into a favorable financial settlement. She will have no part of it and decides to hire her own lawyer who helps her obtain a fair settlement.
“Ellie never lived her own life and is now a middle-aged woman. There is this book quote how she feels all alone, “It was fine when I had my friends with me, but now I find myself alone. I had everything I desired, people I loved and who loved me. And one by one they have been taken away. I have this lovely big house and beautiful view but nobody to share it with.” I wanted to give her everything she wanted: friends, a beautiful house, a love interest, and a baby. Then all those were taken away. I wanted to explore how strong she was when once again everything was taken away from her. I think she is a survivor, optimistic, is willing to take risks, and resilient by the end of the book. But in the beginning, she was broken, angry, resentful, the perfect housewife, and feels hopeless at times. Throughout she is sensible, passionate, vulnerable, and reasonable.”
Deciding to take a trip to the South of France, she steals her husband’s Bentley and agrees to take two companions along. Mavis Moss, her loyal housekeeper who has an abusive husband, and Miss Smith-Humphries, a pillar of the community dying from heart disease but wants to revisit happy places of her youth. While stopping for gas they rescue a pregnant young girl, Yvette, who claims she is being kidnapped.
“Miss Theodora Smith-Humphriesis critical, sickly, formidable, smug, blunt, organized, faithful, and a good listener. We never really know her. She gave the world the face she wanted them to see, that of an efficient smart spinster who runs everything, and who people are slightly scared of. But no one knows she had a great romance. She was not sweet, attractive, and submissive so she never had that good marriage. She had a romance that could never be, after both her married employer and she fell in love. She accepted the role of the mistress.”
“Mavis is scared, street smart, loyal, and has a great relationship with Ellie. She is closest to a friend and confidant Ellie has ever had. In England people don’t say something if they see something because of the stiff upper lip attitude. Yet, Ellie realizes Mavis was abused and she must save her. When Mavis gets to France she blossoms. She becomes a strong person in the community. Yet, she lives the first half of this book in fear of her husband, always having walked on eggshells.”
The Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. They’re aided by handyman, Louis; Nico, a mysterious fisherman; and welcomed by other villagers including a resident gay English couple. While exploring the small town of Saint Benet they find an abandoned villa in the hills and decide to fix it up and rent it from the owner. The simple paradiseof Saint Benet is perfect until fate plays a role and WWII looms over their heads.
The three women blossom and enjoy the beautiful setting of their second chance lives, having a splendid adventure, until the German troops move into the village in 1942-43. The women and the villagers face hardships, betrayals, danger, uncertainties, and retaliations. When the war comes to an end readers realize these women were resilient, inquisitive, caring with strong minds, hearts, and souls.
This book captivates readers from chapter one and never lets up. It shows the strong bond between friends as well as how a middle-aged woman can find true love with Nico, a villager.
