Audiobook Review – The Miseducation of Evie Epworth

Title: The Miseducation of Evie Epworth

Author: Matson Taylor

Genre: Historical Fiction/ Humour

Goodreads Rating: 3.99

My Rating:

Source: Audiobook

Synopsis:

July, 1962

Sixteen year-old Evie Epworth stands on the cusp of womanhood. But what kind of a woman will she become?

The fastest milk bottle-delivery girl in East Yorkshire, Evie is tall as a tree and hot as the desert sand. She dreams of an independent life lived under the bright lights of London (or Leeds). The two posters of Adam Faith on her bedroom wall (‘brooding Adam’ and ‘sophisticated Adam’) offer wise counsel about a future beyond rural East Yorkshire. Her role models are Charlotte Bronte, Shirley MacLaine and the Queen. But, before she can decide on a career, she must first deal with the malign presence of her future step-mother, the manipulative and money-grubbing Christine.

If Evie can rescue her bereaved father, Arthur, from Christine’s pink and over-perfumed clutches, and save the farmhouse from being sold off then maybe she can move on with her own life and finally work out exactly who it is she is meant to be.

Moving, inventive and richly comic, The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is the most joyful debut novel of the year and the best thing to have come out of Yorkshire since Wensleydale cheese

My Review:

I have seen so many great reviews of this book and when it popped up on Scribd I knew I had to seize the chance to listen to it. And I’m so glad I did!

What a charming, delightful, gem of a read! I loved Evie and everything about her. From the witty sarcasm to the kindest heart it is hard not to fall in love with our young protagonist. As she’s about to embark on womanhood and figuring out what to do with her life her world is turned upside down by the arrival of Christine.

Now Christine is the one character in this book that I don’t think anyone likes. She is the gold digging villain of the story that you can’t help but want to see fail. She took the term evil step-mother and fully embodied it. The pleasure I felt when Evie was trying to rid her life of all things Christine was second to none and the dialogue between these two characters was written perfectly.

Matson Taylor doesn’t stop their though and he introduces us to a whole community to love. Mrs Scott-Pym was my favourite of the supporting characters. Her kind nature and motherly attitude towards Evie melted my heart. Evie had found a sanctuary in that house and you could feel the love between these two characters. As much as Evie helped Mrs Scott-Pym I also felt the older woman learnt a thing or two from Evie too.

By the end I had tears of joy weeping down my face. To see all the women of the community gathered together for Evie was heart warming to say the least. Whilst she may not of had her mother there to support her she had every female role model possible to help guide and shape her into the woman she would become.

I am so excited to read the next instalment of Evie and see what shenanigans she’s getting up to. Something tells me it will be just as fun, witty and loveable as this book.