The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

As a Lucy Foley fan, with The Paris Apartment holding my top spot (though my family overwhelmingly puts The Guest List number one), I always anticipate her knack for crafting intriguing settings populated by flawed characters weighed down by their personal baggage. The Midnight Feast delivers on this front, making it an atmospheric and compelling read, perfect for a dark and stormy winter evening.

The Midnight Feast unfolds at The Manor, an exclusive and opulent wellness retreat nestled deep within the picturesque English countryside. Francesca, the ambitious owner, is hosting a grand opening weekend for a carefully curated guest list of privileged individuals she deems worthy of The Manor’s luxurious offerings. This weekend is designed to culminate in a lavish “midnight feast,” a symbolic high point of Francesca’s meticulously planned success.

The narrative unfolds through the perspectives of several key players: Francesca, the seemingly perfect businesswoman masking inner turmoil; Owen, her enigmatic husband and the architect behind The Manor; Bella, an out-of-place mother grappling with a troubled past; Eddie, a local striving for a better life by working at The Manor, a place viewed with suspicion by the community for disrupting the natural order; and DI Walker, the detective called in to investigate a disturbing discovery. Foley masterfully interweaves these characters’ lives, gradually revealing their intricate connections and shared histories as the story progresses.

The narrative skillfully alternates between the grand opening weekend and a pivotal summer that occurred fifteen years prior. The pressure cooker environment of The Manor’s opening forces these characters to confront long-buried trauma and deal with the unresolved events of their shared past. Francesca, driven by a relentless need for control and a fear of imperfection, masks her insecurities with a veneer of perfection, erupting in rages when her carefully constructed facade cracks. This need for control extends to spying on her guests and even her husband, with glimpses of her darker nature only surfacing in the privacy of the bedroom with Owen. Francesca’s immediate inauthenticity made her an instantly unlikeable character for me and increased my anticipation for a reckoning during this fateful weekend. There’s a certain satisfaction in seeing such characters face their comeuppance.

The wellness retreat itself is portrayed as a superficial attempt to address deep-seated issues through trendy spiritual practices, rather than genuine therapeutic work—a critique that I felt extended to all the characters in the book, not just Francesca. Owen is shrouded in mystery, having reinvented himself to conceal his true origins. Bella’s life derailed fifteen years ago, avoiding the trauma but feeling the need to return to The Manor after having a baby to confront her past and seek closure. Eddie, yearning for escape from his family and a more significant life but avoiding talking to his family about the events surrounding his older brother. Even Detective Inspector Walker carries a sense of unresolved history, hinting at his return to the countryside, the full reasons for which are revealed only in the final act.

Overall, I found The Midnight Feast to be a compelling and engaging read. Francesca’s character, with her grating facade of wellness guru hypocrisy, was particularly effective at eliciting a strong negative reaction from me. My empathy lay with Bella, trapped by the trauma of that past summer, who, now with the responsibility of a child, bravely sought to reclaim her life, only to encounter numerous obstacles, primarily in the form of Francesca. I found a sense of satisfaction when Bella finally took decisive action, setting in motion Francesca’s downfall. While I’m not always a fan of the “everyone is connected” trope, Foley’s skillful weaving of the two timelines mitigated this slight annoyance, and the eventual revelations about the characters’ relationships were genuinely surprising.It’s just my opinion, but there seems to be a wonderful wave of talented authors emerging from Great Britain, carrying the torch of Agatha Christie with their intricately plotted and atmospheric mysteries, Ruth Ware being another example. The Midnight Feast strikes me as an excellent choice for a book club, promising lively and engaging discussions over wine. What other book club recommendations do you have? Share them in the comments below!