It’s that time of year again… Virgin River Season 5 is about to premier on Netflix and we are SO excited to visit to our favourite quirky small-town community.

With compelling characters, lots of drama and a gorgeous setting, Virgin River is the perfect uplifting escapism! We spoke to Robyn Carr, author of the book series that inspired the hit Netflix show. Read Robyn’s answers to the Proust Questionnaire…

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Q&A: The Proust Questionnaire

 

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Health. Laughter. And a safe and comfortable home.
2. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart’s mother, the queen of hearts—troubadours worshiped and wrote about her. Not only was she a romantic, but a champion of women’s rights. She endowed one of the first shelters for battered women in England in a convent. She was at once a nurturing but powerfully strong woman—and I come from a family in which the women are very strong and resilient.
3. Who do you most admire? Rosamunde Pilcher, author of The Shell Seekers. She became a bestselling author late in life and wrote the most beautiful book.  And my ex-husband’s grandmother, Alice Entzminger, was an amazing woman. She’d been widowed at about age 50, lived alone and taught school until she was 70. She was always so happy that I was writing. She thought reading and writing were the most important things a woman could do. She grew up north of San Francisco, in the Napa Valley area, and was in the earthquake of 1910.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Meanness and jealousy.
5. What is your greatest extravagance? My children—I have a hard time spending money on myself.
6. What is your favorite destination? The ocean and the mountains. I’m not a big city girl.
7. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Propriety.
8. What is your greatest regret? I don’t know—every bad thing that ever happened to me had such a wonderful upside. Seems like your pathology is your opportunity. I have gotten my kids so convinced of that that when bad things happen, they get a little excited because they wonder what something wonderful will be next. So yeah, can’t think of a single thing I would undo.
9. What or who is the greatest love of your life?  My daughter is my best friend and supporter and my granddaughters, four of them, are so wonderful. There is no man in my life at this time but I’m open to the idea that there’s still plenty of time for a rich, romantic relationship.
10. Which talent would you most like to have? I’d absolutely love to be able to sing.
11. What is your current state of mind? Happy all the time—never depressed.
12. What do you consider your greatest achievement? My children. They are my biggest victory. I have no idea how they turned out so well, because, really, Big Bird raised them. Maybe they’re the better for it?
13. If you could choose what to come back as in another life, what would it be? I would like to be an accomplished and beautiful actress without any of the fame crap.
14. Where would you like to live? Where I’m living, and if I could, I’d have a house in Las Vegas and another home on the Pacific Ocean.
15. What is your favorite occupation? This is it. I’ve been writing novels for over 40 years. It’s the best job I could ever get. I really have a perfect life . . .
16. What is your most marked behavior characteristic? I’m a really good sport. I am.
17. What quality do you like most in a woman? Intelligence and humor.
18. Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Captain Brandon Birmingham, the hero in The Flame and the Flower. He was big and sexy, like Jack (from my Virgin River series).
19. Who are your heroes in real life? My son, my son-in-law and my daughter, Jamie, who amazes me with her ability to be a successful career woman in a dangerous profession, a loving wife, nurturing mother and spectacular best friend.
20. What are your favorite names? I always write real common names, names that stick like Jack, Joe, John. I don’t like those foo-foo names.
21. What do you most dislike? Crazy-makers. People who just aren’t happy unless there’s a lot of wacko melodrama and who can’t wait to turn a perfectly content person’s world inside out. You absolutely never see ‘em coming!
22. How would you like to die? I want to die in my sleep at the age of 127. I’m going to hang on. There will be heel marks all the way.
23. What is your motto? It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice.

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Virgin River by Robyn Carr

When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving: the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her. Realizing she’s made a huge mistake, Mel decides to leave town the following morning.

But a tiny baby, abandoned on a front porch, changes her plans…and a former marine cements them into place.

Melinda Monroe may have come to Virgin River looking for escape, but instead she finds her home…

By Lauren Gardiner