The Namaste Club, a swanky resort near Vero Beach Florida hosted private events featuring good locally sourced food and drink, and a meditation center with an Eastern vibe, which was perfect for a yoga retreat. Instructor Shakti signed up and led four of her students for "Transcendence Week," which promised through meditation, yoga class, and discussion to help them realize their goals. The last of the five attendees heard about the retreat-it wasn't quite her cup of tea, but her husband insisted that she attend after she got in big trouble with her kid's school library.
Each of the women wanted something different. Jessica and Indira were best friends who met at their daughter's kindergarten class and realized that they were outsiders. Both married men their families didn't approve of, and both marriages collapsed, which bonded them further. But while they were very close, they also had unresolved issues-Indira exploded her marriage with her infidelities and Jessica was the victim of her husband's dalliances. Tension much? Carol Ann was a conservative who was proud of her book banning, surrender wife, right wing leanings. She went nowhere without her Glock, including to the retreat, where she blew the head off of a nine foot Burmese python that slithered from the vegetation surrounding Shiva Lake. She suspected that her sacred marriage was in trouble because she made the money in the family and she knew that this was wrong. Perhaps she could find a way to make her husband love her again.
The last two attendees were a study in contrasts. Barbara, ex-flower child, was a long term yoga client of Shakti's with a mysterious past. At the retreat, she chooses to take a vow of silence and takes the task of cleaning everyone's room-making her privy to all of their secrets. And finally there was Daniel, an aspiring yoga teacher and Shakti's assistant. He was extremely touchy feely with all of the yoga students, making it a point to assist them in their positions with as much physical contact as possible. And he kept taking all of the women, one by one, to his cabin for personal instruction.
Will they find what they seek or end up in the business end of Bubba the 12 foot alligator?
Elias handles this powder keg with compassion and humor-merging her disparate cast of women into a cohesive group that can do the right thing despite all of their differences. Read this at the beach on a yoga mat.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
July 1, 2025
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