Middle age meets the Middle Ages in Kim Wright's new novel, inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's THE CANTERBURY TALES.

Che de Milan is having kind of a bad time of it. First, her mother, the larger-than-life Diana de Milan (with whom Che has always had a complicated relationship, to put it mildly), dies after a long illness. Then her longtime long-distance boyfriend, Ned, breaks up with her by mail. Che is convinced that she's the victim of her own success; she's an independent, wildly respected wine critic whose online reviews can make or break vintners, and Ned's new flame is a fragile woman who just wants to be taken care of. Now Che, in her mid-40s, is facing the prospect of starting over --- and for better or for worse, she doesn't even have her mom to offer advice.

"THE CANTERBURY SISTERS will be enjoyed by women of all ages, regardless of their previous familiarity with Chaucer's tales. The ladies' stories are diverse and absorbing, and often surprising as well."

Heartbroken, Che decides to honor her mom's final wish --- to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral in England and scatter some of her mom's ashes there. She had hoped for a private tour guide for the 60-mile walk from London to Canterbury. But circumstances change, and she winds up being placed with a tour group called Broads Abroad, with eight other American women who all have their own very personal reasons for making the journey.

On their first night, as they meet in a pub outside London, their tour guide proposes that, like Chaucer's pilgrims, their group takes part in a storytelling contest during their journey, each taking a turn to tell a story about the nature of love. Che, who feels more than a little flummoxed about the nature of love at present, is relieved to go last. At first she resents the company of the diverse group of women, who range from a disgraced reality TV star to a fitness-obsessed woman to a middle-aged mom and her prickly teen daughter. As the women begin to share their stories, though --- many of which have intriguing parallels --- Che finds herself drawn into the group despite herself and better able to articulate her own complicated story.

THE CANTERBURY SISTERS will be enjoyed by women of all ages, regardless of their previous familiarity with Chaucer's tales. The ladies' stories are diverse and absorbing, and often surprising as well. What's more, they offer plenty of opportunity for reflection about the value of storytelling, the various ways in which we impose archetypal narratives on our own messy lives, and the ways in which we lie to ourselves about the reality of our pasts.

Kim Wright’s novel would be a great book club read. The various stories offer plenty of fodder for discussion, and it's easy to imagine a group of women talking about which characters they identify with --- and using the stories collected here as a springboard for a storytelling session of their own.