There’s a pretty long-standing trope in women’s fiction wherein four or five long-time female friends get together at some critical point in the life of one or more of them, and – usually with the help of a great deal of wine – solve each other’s problems so that everyone lives happily ever after.

Carr is undeniably dusting off this reliable formula in “The House on Olive Street”, but she handles the story with such panache that it pops and bubbles and turns left almost every time the reader is expecting it to turn right.

Five women, writers all, have had a long-standing friendship that is shaken when one of them dies unexpectedly, charging the eldest member of the group to handle her literary affairs and sort out her personal effects. What starts out as a sad obligation grows into a combination scavenger hunt to reconstruct an unfinished autobiographical novel and a “crazy women’s summer camp” as circumstances push one group member after the next into taking up residence in the house on Olive Street.

Things look like they might get terribly predictable and just a wee bit sappy about three-quarters of the way through the book, but Carr still has a few plot twists up her sleeve and manages to create a satisfying ending without getting mawkish about it. ( )

Carr's books just flow....not a dull moment, or page! Following four women through their literary connection after the death of their fifth member, Gabby....fascinating how Carr can handle so many characters so well and so thoroughly. The reader can get absorbed in each of their lives. As a fairly new reader of her books I'm looking for more of them right now. ( )

This is the best Robyn Carr book I have read yet. Even better than the Virgin River books that I love so much, the women in this book are so real and so lovable as they struggle and grow. I couldn't put it down. ( )

Five Women, One of Whom is Dead

For me, this was a cinnamon roll book – I know you know that delicious twist of dough, icing and cinnamon. Heaven for your mouth, hell on your hips. Well, this book was like that for me –

This is the story of five women, one of whom is dead. In fact, Gabby’s death starts the book, the domino that falls first, setting in motion change and growth for her four friends who are accustomed to getting together at Gabby’s house on Olive Street to talk books, writing, and publishing.

The four living authors each embody one of four types of women writers: Sable, a Danielle Steel-type success story; Elly, a teacher who writes reviews and nonfiction; Barbara Ann, an established series romance writer; and Beth, shy and retiring, who ironically writes mysteries.

Gabby started her writing career as a journalist investigating women and children’s issues around the world, then segued into writing fiction when she gave up travel to be a bigger part of her two children’s lives.

All five of the women are successful, all five have secrets. With Gabby’s death, the secrets come tumbling out, disrupting each woman’s carefully balanced life – work hard, keep up appearances, keep your secrets.

One by one, their lives explode. One by one, they move into the house on Olive Street to hide, to recover, to regroup, to change, to grow amidst friends. The women are all oddly appealing, well-crafted, complex. Even Gabby goes under the microscope when Elly finds a partially finished novel about an early affair the journalist had had. The writers decide to finish the novel. In the process, they find themselves, rebuild their lives.

There is a villain and he is satisfyingly dispatched. There is an unlikely hero. Men – manly men – change.

The House on Olive Street is about women, writers, women writers, addiction in all its masks, expectations, change. This is the best of women’s fiction comfort food – a cinnamon roll with all of the flavor but none of the calories. ( )

Robyn Carr, a talented romance author, wrote this book back in 1999. Definitely not your classic romance, I believe the work would have gained much higher acclaim had it been marketed purely as "women's fiction" rather than romance. It is a hidden treasure.

A writer's group of five women gather at one member's house to find she has died - unexpectedly, on her fiftieth birthday. The surviving four women come from backgrounds so different, it seems the story will be over before it begins. But a letter left to them by the deceased, written many years before, asks that they "finish her work." The four set off on a campaign to piece together Gabby's last work in progress, and in the process piece together and heal the ills in their own lives.

An excellent story, well written. If only Carr had had a better editor (to weed out her use of cliches) and the right platform, this book could have become a classic. Highly recommend. ( )