The English Wife A Novel

Special thanks to Book of the Month and St. Martin's Press for early access to this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. When you're living a nightmare, even the shadows have claws. This book was a wild trip from start to finish. It was slow at times and I didn't understand a lot of the play references but it was still a really good book. It had the perfect amount of creep factor and I couldn't get rid of the underlying sense of dread the entire time I was reading this. The plot is told in two different ways: Janie's POV and Georgie's POV. Janie's story happens a few years ahead of Georgie's POV. Both work in tangent to explain what happened to Bay, Janie's brother and his wife, Annabelle, who is more than meets the eye. What prevented me from giving this the full five stars was it really dragged in some parts, like I mentioned above. Because of this, I found it hard to bond with Janie and Georgie, although I enjoyed their POVs immensely. There were also a lot of references to plays I haven't read, which kind of hindered my enjoyment of this book. It made me feel bad and made me realize that I need to get my butt in gear and read more plays. Overall, I'm thrilled to have been given a chance to read this. I had been denied the ARC from Netgalley and was completely surprised and pleased that this was an option for Book of the Month. I've been getting more and more into thrillers and this was truly a good one.

2.5/5 stars I'm a slut for period romance but this was just...... really...... confusing. And the answers to all the questions just seemed kind of ... forced??

I received an ARC of this book through Goodreads, and am happy to provide an honest review of that copy. 3.5 stars I have mixed feelings about The English Wife. On the one hand, it is well-written, and Lauren Willig (again) provides excellent characterization, well-researched historical detail, and interesting plot twists. Objectively speaking, I think this is Willig's best book yet. But. But. If you're accustomed to her earlier work, this one feels a bit ... bleak. I would find myself putting the book down at night and almost dreading picking it up again (at least until the 50% mark, when I thought I'd figured out where the story was going). You know from the first chapter that poor Bayard and Annabelle are doomed. In more ways than one, as it turns out. You're also introduced to Bay's timid younger sister Janie and their controversial cousin Anne. And also Bay and Janie's mother Alva, whose personality and character match the frozen landscape. From there, the narrative splits; following Bay and Annabelle from their first meeting in the not-so-distant past, and Janie in the present until the stories meet in the middle. Willig deserves credit for creating some flawed, layered characters. Almost no one is exactly who they seem on the surface. The difficult part was getting to understand and care about Bay and Annabelle all the while knowing their sad fate. At least there was also Janie to cheer for. I also found it interesting that, while there was resolution, not all the threads in the story were neatly tied off. I definitely wouldn't mind a follow-up to this book, but I don't think the ambiguity is entirely off-putting either. In all - if you want a moody-ish book good for a cold January weekend, this might be it. If that doesn't sound like quite your cup of tea, though, you're welcome to join me in a re-read of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.

“When you think about it, everything has been said before, in one way or another. It’s only our experience of it that makes it new.” Bay and Annabelle’s first ball at their new home comes to a tragic end when he is found with a knife in his heart and she is nowhere to be found. Mrs. Van Duyvil will not let murder, disappearance or scandal tarnish the reputation of the family. Anne is dealing with a divorce from her adulterous husband and the death of her beloved cousin Bay by seeming aloof and showing off that nothing affects her. It’s only his sister Janie who is interested in finding out the truth and decides to team up with the journalist Mr. Burke to get about it. The story is told in two timelines – one follows Janie’s quest; the other follows Bay in his journey to London a few years ago and his love affair with Georgie. I especially liked their interactions. The mystery surrounding Annabelle, Georgie and Giles and ultimately the murders is very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed not being able to guess true culprit till the very end. My only problem was that I didn’t like most of the characters except Janie and Bay in his stint at London. However, the story was so interesting that the pretentious and conniving characters didn’t stop me from completing or enjoying the book. I hope to read other books by this author as well.