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Her Last Holiday: from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Strangers and Sleep comes the most addictive crime thriller of 2021

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Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a woman on her "Last Holiday" in this 2006 film also starring Timothy Hutton, Gerard Depardieu, L.L. Cool J, Alicia Witt, and Giancarlo Esposito. Georgia works in the cookware department of a big department store chain. She's incredibly popular with customers, and at home, she keeps a "possibilities" scrapbook with recipes she's cooked copying her idol, Emeril Lagasse, photos of exotic places, and a photo of her married to her dream man (Cool J) who works with her. But her dream of a restaurant, marriage, a family - she's too shy to really go after them. Then she learns that she only has three weeks to live. She cashes in all of her retirement menu and sets off for Prague. There, she entrances everyone she meets and is unafraid to say what she thinks or take chances. Her popularity and attitudes rankle the owner of the store where she worked (Hutton) who is suspicious of her.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the second half is as good. The retreat events become rather longwinded and overlong and so it gets a bit dull. There are a lot of characters to get your head around too and some of them change their names which gets confusing. It’s the end though that I have the biggest problem with as it just doesn’t work for me. As the ‘string puller’ is revealed the motivation seems spurious and it feels implausible. I reviewed this book by an audiobook. The narrator brought the characters to life for me and made the swapping between timelines so easy. If you want a summer audiobook or beach read. Then this is it. I cannot praise C.L. Taylor enough. Currently, we have our fair share of pointless actions films (absent of any plot and decent script) or films that are trying to take themselves too seriously or films that are too dark and downbeat or films which try to be funny but are not so it was a pleasure to go with my family recently to see Last Holiday. This is a gripping stôry, and felt both original and authentic. The narrator did a fantastic job, rising to the challenge when several accents were called for! This film is about a saleslady in a department store who finds out she has a terminal illness. She decides to spend all her savings to enjoy her remaining days in her dream European resort.Although I usually enjoy C.L. Taylor's novels, this is not one of her best or one I'm likely to find memorable. 2.5★ Another thing I didn’t like is that the second half kind of got repetitive, especially with Kate. I didn’t find her perspective very useful to the story. But it’s not like I particularly liked any of the characters either. I was mostly indifferent about them. The most incredible thing about this movie is the fact that it's a remake. There are two types of remakes, the faithful and the altered, and Last Holiday is the best altered remake ever. The original was made in 1950 and starred Alec Guinness. With no humor, a tragic romance, and an extremely depressing story, it was a terrible film. Fifty-six years later, the character George Byrd was changed to Georgia Byrd, and Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote a delightful script! Wayne Wang, the director of this film has always delivered well crafted pictures that are entertaining. This is a film loosely based on the English film of the same title that was a vehicle for Alec Guinnes and J.B. Pristley, the original writer is given credit. The adaptation for this version works out well because it's never meant to be anything more than a light comedy, a bit predictable, perhaps, but it satisfy none the less. Jenna Fitzgerald disappeared from a mindfulness retreat on the island of Gozo in Malta 3 years ago. Two other people died at the retreat. It all came to a head on the night of the sweat lodge rebirthing ceremony. The ‘wellness guru’, Tom Wade spent 18 months in jail for, presumably, negligence over the deaths. They were certainly accidental deaths. Jenna’s disappearance was ruled a suicide by the local police after some bloodstains and her flip flops were found at the top of a steep cliff. The body was never recovered.

That’s the question her sister Fran is desperate to answer! Jenna vanished from a retreat two years ago. Blood was found on the edge of the cliff. But her body was never discovered. Fran is determined to get answers and solve the mystery behind her sisters disappearance. But Fran goes along with it, using her mother’s maiden name Geraldine Rotherham. As the participants arrive and meet up I couldn’t help thinking - awkward! The whole thing just screams awkward. Kate comes across as a deranged harradin, Tom comes across as a useless twat and most of the participants are either simpering females or highly annoying men for one reason or another.You keep asking yourself as you observe several counseling sessions of these health gurus: are they conmen or are they really talented soul shakers who help the people get through their mental problems? Now, Tom is out of jail and his wife Kate, who does all the admin and marketing for the retreats, has organised the first retreat since the disastrous one of three years ago. Tom is not keen but Kate is adamant they need the money. This time it will be held in Wales. Jenna’s mother, a strange and very annoying woman, bullies her much older other daughter to attend and see what she can learn about Jenna’s disappearance. Already I am thinking - why would the mother send another daughter into potential danger? If she’s so keen why doesn’t she go herself? It’s got a good pace. We are told the story from Fran’s point of view in the present and Jenna is in the past at the time of her retreat stay. There’s some input too from Kate in both past and present. She is the organiser of the retreat and secret wife of Tom. At the resort, she doesn't bat an eyelash about expenses. After all, she figures, she'd better pamper herself. Georgia realizes she must update her wardrobe as well and transforms herself into a beautiful creature. The party of Americans staying at the hotel include the senator from her home state of Louisiana and the rich man who owned the store where she worked in New Orleans. Georgia is an instant hit because she is herself all the time. She makes everyone at the hotel like her because they see in Georgia a genuine person.

Two other accidents took place on that retreat leaving Tom in prison for manslaughter. However, he will be released soon. Here, the characters are fun to watch. Queen Latifah has that essential quality for a good comedian - she tugs at your heartstrings while the laughter is going on. She is great! LL Cool J is a wonderfully pleasant surprise. Tim Hutton is a good comedy villain: you loathe him - but not too much. (At the end, he seems to experience a change of heart, so I was slightly disappointed at his fate in the Epilogue.) Gerard Depardieu is especially good, and the rest of the cast is fine. My wife and I loved the setting, the cinematography and the fun script. This film made us laugh more than any film in recent memory. She meets the couple Kate and Tom who ran the retreat in Gaza along with three others who were also there. Surely someone will know what happened to Jenna?

A sensational novel!’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER You come to SoulShrink to be healed. You don’t expect to die. Now the blurb for Her Last Holiday is somewhat misleading. 'Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat...' Fran did not book herself onto this retreat. Geraldine, her mother, was booked to go but had an accident and couldn't. She bullied Fran into going in her place.

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