Title: The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey
Author: Serena Burdick
Publication: November 1, 2022
Publisher: Park Row
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pages: 336
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
What if you could write a new ending for yourself?
England, 1898. When Evelyn first married the famous novelist William Aubrey, she was dazzled by his brilliance. But their newlywed bliss is brief when William is gripped by writer’s block, and he becomes jealous of Evelyn’s writing talent. When he commits the ultimate betrayal–stealing a draft of her novel and passing it off as his own–Evelyn decides to write her way out of their unhappy marriage.
California, 2006. Abigail always wondered about her father, his identity forever lost when her mother unexpectedly died. Or so Abigail thought, until she stumbled upon his photo and a message that her great-great-grandmother was the author Evelyn Aubrey, leading Abigail on a journey to England in search for answers. There, she learns of Evelyn’s shocking disappearance and how London society believed she was murdered. But from what she uncovers about Evelyn, Abigail believes her brilliant great-great-grandmother had another plot up her sleeve.
Rich in atmosphere and emotion, The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey tells the story of literary secrets, a family curse and the lengths women will go to take charge of their future.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
This review is pretty late. I got sidetracked with life and some of my timed-out reviews got delayed. I got the request to read this book with a selection of fall books I believe. It sounded super interesting so I downloaded the book to my Kindle. I was excited to read it.
Abby is lost in her life. Her mother died when she was younger and she was raised by her Grandparents. She just kind of floated through life but was desperate to find out who she was and where she came from. She pushed her boyfriend away because she needed to know who she was and he came second. She finds a picture and it leads her to England to find her family. Will it lead her to what she is looking for or will it take her down a path that she really doesn’t want to know about? First off, this book took me 19 days to read. I did not like it at all. The only reason I gave it two stars is that at a certain point, I was just invested in the story and needed to find out what happened to the main character. It felt like a chore just to read it and found myself on more than one count falling asleep and waking up with a start when my Kindle smacked me in the face.
I found Abby just plain annoying. I know that it is important to find where you come from. I mean I admit that I have paid for Ancestry.com things so that I could find out more about my family, even though my family is not broken. It just seemed like she was woe is me all the time about everything but didn’t see what was in front of her the whole time. However, maybe that was the journey she was supposed to have, but I thought it could have been written differently. The storyline with Evelyn was aggravating. She was certainly a grass was always greener on the other side of the fence situation. Her story could have been written in half the time and I honestly felt let down by her ending. Yes, she got a good ending but the road that we took to make it there was one that I felt could have, again, been written in fewer words. Maybe, I am just salty or something about the storyline, but read the book and make your own decisions about the book.
