Most everyone wants to be better. Whether it’s to become healthier, stronger, or even fix a perceived personality flaw, humans seem to be on a never-ending journey to improve ourselves. So, if it’s all about finding enlightenment, why can the wellness industry sometimes feel so… sinister? Maybe it’s because it’s an industry which inherently plays on the emotions and mental health of people, women in particular. Or maybe it’s because some wellness brands are built around a single enigmatic person that people seem to flock to for all the answers.
In my novel Salthouse Place, a woman finds herself drawn into an exclusive wellness retreat community on the Oregon Coast. She’s there to find clues to a decade-old mystery from her past, but she finds herself drawn to the alluring leader and finds comfort in the empowering community of women. As she gets pulled further in, she realizes the cult-like community is protecting some very dark secrets.
Here are some other reads that take a look at the dark side of wellness:
Goddess by Deborah Hemming
A perfect end of summer read, this novel takes the reader to a remote Greek isle where the main character, Agnes, has been invited to a summit for a popular lifestyle and wellness brand. The founder is an actress, now guru, who promises self-care and transformation through her program. Never mind the therapy is controversial and wildly expensive. When Agnes begins to witness unexplainable things, she digs deeper to find out the shocking secret behind who her guru really is and what she really has in store for Agnes and the other summit guests.
The Glow by Jessie Gaynor
When publicist Jane needs a miracle to save her job, she finds it on Instagram. Cass has baby-perfect skin and is the beautiful leader of the spiritual retreat FortPath, that she runs with her husband. If Jane can convince Cass to package her wellness retreat into a high-end lifestyle brand, Jane’s sure it will mean success for everyone involved. But as Jane convinces Cass to become the wellness guru everyone wants, Jane grapples with profiting off of Cass and the women they are selling to in the guise of “doing good”. The book looks at the ethics of health as a commodity and what happens when we trade power, influence and beauty.
The Goddess Effect by Sheila Yasmin Marikar
While waiting on news of a new job opportunity and bored in an LA creative incubator house, Anita, finds distraction in a wellness center called The Goddess Effect. She longs to be like the fit, attractive women in the group and is soon taken in by the one of the members. Anita is not quite sold on the tradition of sharing secrets in the group, or the mysterious medical “enhancements” she keeps hearing whispering about. Anita realizes she has to find the truth behind The Goddess Effect, before it’s too late.
Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom
The new procedure Aesthetica™ has promised those who undergo the surgery a change to return to their true selves, ie. reverse any and all plastic surgery the patient has done. But it’s high-risk and survival is not guaranteed. For the main character of this novel, a washed-up social media star, it’s worth the risk. As a teen Instagram model, she lived with her abusive manager and boyfriend, and just hours before the surgery, she is asked to speak out against him in the post #MeToo era. This request causes her to reflect on her rise to internet fame and what it cost her.
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
The main character is gifted pianist who was taught to play by her parents, musicians who were forced to leave China after the Cultural Revolution. She herself is forced to leave music when her parents are debilitated in an accident. She takes a job at a high-end beauty store, Holistik, known for exclusive products and procedures. The story parallels the commoditization of health and beauty along with the character’s immigrant experience in America. When she befriends the niece of Holistik’s owner, she is drawn into the world of modern beauty, but by the time she discovers the true horror of Holistik, it might be too late.
Nine Perfect Strangers by Lianne Moriarty
Told in the alternating points of view of the nine people gathered at the luxury health resort, Tranquillum House, Moriarty uses her hallmark plotting to create a complex web of lies and mysteries. The resort is run by the eccentric Masha, who promises her guests that in ten days, their lives will change for the better. But as Masha’s therapies get stranger and the guests become more on edge, they realize they very well might not survive their stay at Tranquillum House.
Self Care by Leigh Stein
When Maren, the COO of wellness start-up Richual, finds herself in the middle of a Tweetstorm, it’s just one of many PR nightmares her and her cofounder BFFs find themselves in in this novel. With their next round of funding coming up, Maren and Richual will soon be up against an employee’s devastating secret as well as a sexual misconduct scandal that threatens everything the cofounders have built. Self Care asks what does the wellness industry look like when the glossy filter is removed?
Kismet by Amina Akhtar
New Yorker Ronnie needs a change, so she follows her new wellness guru Marley to the desert mountains of Sedona, Arizona. She moves in with Marley and immerses herself in everything her new friend has to offer on the road to a better Ronnie, yoga, juice cleanses, transcendent hikes in the canyons- all the while contemplating what it means for brown bodies to exist in the overwhelmingly white space of the wellness industry. But when one of these hikes reveals a grisly discovery, Ronnie can’t help but wonder if everything is as it seems. When more wellness influencers turn up murdered, Ronnie becomes concerned her own guru and friend may have taken her ambitions too far.
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