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The Miseducation of Evie Epworth: The Bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club Pick

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Evie, our "heroine", is a 16 year old (who comes across as a 10 year old), the daughter of a farm owner, or "the naive father", who seemed besotted by a 22 year old, or "the evil step mother". The "perfect mother" died when Evie was just a baby and nobody ever told her anything about this maternal figure. As I read the book sometimes I had the feeling that the characters (family members, neighbours...) had just met!! And I could go on and on... There are some funny situations described, but overall they don't contribute to the plot or the main storyline.

I am Evie, sixteen and a half, as wise as a tree, as tall as time, the fastest milk bottle in East Yorkshire, hurtling towards Womanhood. p 7 What we get in The Miseducation Of Evie Epworth is a cast of very strong female characters. Some aren't as likeable as the rest (Christine and Vera 🙄) however, they each bring something to the table. A rush of light suddenly bounces around the room. I love it when people say my mother's name. It's like she's living again, if only for a second. I let the golden flare of her name burst over me. p 49 I'm not sure how much more I can rave about this book other than to comment on Taylor's use of humour and irony throughout. Of course (on a more serious note) there is an underlying theme about loss and grief, about the way we deal with both and the destructiveness of trying to bury them.

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Apart from these three we have Christine’s awful mum Vera, her obese friend Mrs Swithenbank, superstitious Mrs Scott-Pym next door (you’ll find out why I say she is superstitious when you get to that bit) and her wonderfully eccentric, estranged daughter Caroline. The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved The Miseducation of Evie Epworth – here are some of their comments: I am thrilled to have spent a few days in the delightful company of Evie Epworth, the heroine of Matson Taylor's début novel, The Miseducation of Evie Epworth. What a hoot this novel turned out to be! Set in Yorkshire in 1962, sixteen-year-old, Adam Faith-loving, Evie lives with her widowed dad, Arthur, and Christine, a woman who is set on marrying him. Evie is not a fan, and thinks her father can do much better, and she also needs to decide what she wants to do with her own life now that she's finished school. What happens next is exceptionally compelling... The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is the first novel by British author, Matson Taylor. At sixteen and a half, Evie Epworth is faced with a decision: what to do with the rest of her life. There are plenty of suggestions (marry a farmer [Dad], do her A levels [best friend Margaret], work in a hair salon [Christine], marry a doctor [Mrs Swithenbank]). This is where she so misses having a mum. What a charming and delightful read this was, full of laugh out loud moments as well as gentle humour as Evie Epworth navigates the minefields of finishing school and becoming a Woman.

Oh this book is the perfect antidote to all of the horrendous things that seem to be on the news this year! One of my friends loved this debut novel by Matson Taylor but it still took me months to get to it and I am so thankful I did. In fact, although I was keen for something light... a good psychological thriller about some murderous psychopath; from the opening lines of this novel I was transported into Evie's world. It's written in first person from 16 year old Evie's point of view and almost akin to stream-of-consciousness thinking. Taylor gives Evie a really delightful voice and this is a quirky and often-funny read. At the same time however, there are moments of poignancy, some of which come as a result of life experience and realising things young Evie does not. When a certain nasty accident brings Caroline Scott-Pym home to their Yorkshire village, they discover an instant rapport, and Evie has an ally in her campaign to see off the cheating, lying gold-digger. Such a joyful and uplifting read. Just the sort of thing that people will want to be reading right now.’ Anita Rani, Radio 2 Book Club There were some really moving moments which made me shed a little tear, especially when concerning her beloved dead mother, her father who is obviously in over his head with the gold-digging revolting Christine, and her unconditional friendship with Mrs Scott-Pym who treats Evie like a daughter.Set in the 1960s, Evie is a 16 year old girl from Yorkshire and she lives with her widowed father and his 'housekeeper' (Christine) who is a younger woman with her heart set on marrying Evie's dad. Evie, of course, is not a fan of the idea and sets out to derail the relationship. Evie recognises that Christine is not necessarily in love with her father and because Evie dotes on her father she thinks he deserves better. As well as working at various universities and museums around the world, Matson has worked on Camden Market, appeared in an Italian TV commercial, and been a pronunciation coach for Catalan opera singers. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is his first novel. Evie’s first-person narrative is punctuated by short excerpts from the past (entitled interlude) which tell the story of not only Evie’s parents marriage and move to the farm but her mother’s friendship with Mrs Scott-Pym and in turn her fraught relationship with Caroline. Weaving past and present together adds depth to the story and keeps Evie’s mother, who died when she was one, ever present in the story. Alongside Evie’s own journey the major subplot centres on Mrs Scott-Pym coming to terms with, and accepting, her own daughter’s life choices and this was both subtly handled and an entirely unexpected source of joy.

Sixteen-year-old Evie Epworth stands on the cusp of womanhood. But what kind of a woman will she become? This is a light hearted story with hilarious moments to make you laugh. What Evie sees to make her crash her car is something bizarre.

Selection panel review

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is set in Yorkshire in the early 1960’s and centres around 16 year old Evie Epworth who lives with her father, Arthur and his live-in housekeeper/fiance Christine on the family farm. Evie’s on the cusp of womanhood and doesn’t quite know what kind of woman she will be. Her mother died when she was a baby and the only female role models in her life are her wonderful elderly next door neighbour Mrs Scott-Pym and the utterly despicable soon to be stepmother Christine. Up until now, Evie’s life has been nothing special: a patchwork of school, Guides, cows, lost mothers, lacrosse and village fetes. But, inspired by her idols (Charlotte Brontë, Shirley MacLaine, the Queen), she dreams of a world far away from rural East Yorkshire, a world of glamour lived under the bright lights of London (or Leeds). Standing in the way of these dreams, though, is Christine, Evie’s soon-to-be stepmother, a manipulative and money-grubbing schemer who is lining Evie up for a life of shampoo-and-set drudgery at the stinky local salon.

But one of the stand-out things for me about the book is how Matson has managed to capture perfectly the ‘playful’ (his word) voice of a 16 year old girl in the sixties. Hard enough for someone like me who was there! I absolutely loved the characters in this, they were all so vibrant and vivid. It’s a perfect summer read and had me smiling from ear to ear. Evie herself isn’t an annoying protagonist like some younger characters can be. She had a maturity whilst maintaining a young aura. I just wanted to wrap myself up in village life. I know there are parts of growing up covered in this that many of us will relate to. It is set in 1962 which made it feel both modern and historical. I read this via The Pigeonhole over the course of ten days and in ten daily installments. Every day I finished one stave I wanted more and more. I was also approved for a copy via Netgalley, but managed to control my impulse to rush on ahead as the community reading on The Pigeonhole is such a great experience. I loved the characterisation, as each of the characters were bursting with vitality and so very unique in their own way.

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The Miseducation of Evie Epworth tells the story of Evie, aged 16 and struggling to know what to do with her life. She lives in a small Yorkshire village with her Dad and awful Step-mother. However, Evie has some wonderful friends to give her a hand. Warm, witty and wise - a coming-of-age story featuring a truly inimitable Yorkshire heroine in Evie. We have the chance for you to win 10 copies of this fantastic novel for your reading group! Please enter by Friday 14 August. This will certainly be one of my favourite books of the year. It occurs to me I read so many books about devious characters I'm almost agog when people turn out to be kind and generous. That's certainly the case with Mrs Scott-Pym and her daughter who are there for Evie when she most needs guidance and friendship.

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