Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Burdick (Find Me in Havana) explores love, loss, and treachery in her luminous multigenerational tale. Seventeen years after the death of Abby Phillips's mother during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, Abby discovers a book of poetry by her paternal great-great-grandmother, Evelyn Aubrey, in her maternal grandmother's underwear drawer. The book also contains a photo of her father, whom she's never known, and the photo inspires her to search for him. In a parallel narrative set in the 1890s, it seems newlywed Evelyn's husband, William, a famous novelist, is passionately in love with her--until he starts stealing her work and selling it under his own name. Evelyn feels increasingly powerless and frustrated, and she hatches an ingenious plan to make a new life for herself and get revenge on William. Burdick skillfully alternates between Evelyn's and Abby's points of view, illustrating the limitations placed on women around the turn of the 20th century and the deep desire to know about one's own heritage. The author charms with lyrical prose ("the words shattering inside Abby's head") and a well-sketched cast of supporting characters. Readers will be hooked. Agent: Stephanie Delman, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
This gothic-tinged book from Burdick (The Girls with No Names) focuses on two women in two eras: Evelyn, a newly married Englishwoman at the turn of the 20th century; and Abby, a Californian in 2008 who is still reeling over her mother's death in the late 1990s. Abby has never known who her father is, so she's surprised when she finds an old photo of her mother with a man with Abby's red hair. The picture leads her to discover that her father may have been a descendant of Evelyn, the wife of the famous writer William Aubrey. In Evelyn's own time, she marries William in wild passion, only slowly discovering that William is jealous of her writing ability, eventually stealing her work to publish under his name. Worst of all, Abby learns that Evelyn died under mysterious circumstances. Abby flies to England and works to untangle the mysteries of Evelyn's life, hoping that the trail will lead to her unknown father. VERDICT The plot twists in the book occasionally stretch the bounds of believability, but readers who love novels filled with family secrets, decrepit mansions, and long-lost journals will enjoy.--Jennie Mills
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