The English Wife

by Lauren Willig

Anna belle and Bayard Van Duyvil live a charmed life: he's the scion of an old Knickerbocker family, she grew up in a Tudor house in England, they had a fairytale romance in London, they have three year old twins on whom they dote, and he's recreated her family home on the banks of the Hudson and named it Illyria. Yes, there are rumours that she's having an affair with the architect, but rumours are rumours and people will gossip. But then Bayard is found dead with a knife in his chest on the night of their Twelfth Night Ball, Annabelle goes missing, presumed drowned, and the papers go mad. Bay's sister, Janie, forms an unlikely alliance with a reporter to try to uncover the truth, convinced that Bay would never have killed his wife, that it must be a third party, but the more she learns about her brother and his wife, the more everything she thought she knew about them starts to unravel. Who were her brother and his wife, really? And why did her brother die with the name George on his lips?

• ISBN13: 9781250056276
• Publish Date: 9 January 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The English Wife is a standalone historical mystery/romance from Lauren Willig. Released 9th Jan, 2018 by St. Martin's/Macmillan, it's 376 pages and available in ebook, hardback, paperback and audiobook formats.

I'm generally a huge fan of historical mysteries; especially ones set in the late 19th century (Gilded Age/Victorian). Unfortunately this story never really felt convincingly as if the setting (and characters) were more than pasted in. I never connected with the characters and (as other reviewers have noted), I had a great deal of trouble keeping them straight in my mind. The plot was convoluted and odd, I can't figure out why it never gelled for me. I found myself plodding through the book, though I did finish it. I don't review books for which I'm guilty of skimming (or cheating and reading ahead). The story developed very very slowly. I never felt much (any) dramatic tension. It's a shame because the author is a talented writer. It just wasn't for me.

The dialogue was (to my ear) often stilted and awkward, and not in a formal 'polite society' manner. It also felt to me that the author couldn't decide whether to write a mystery or a romance and wound up doing neither justice.

I would, with some mild hesitation, recommend this book to previous fans of the author or possibly historical romance fans. The ending was satisfying in a some ways, but mostly had me rolling my eyes and internally thinking, "really?! Almost 400 pages for that"?!

Two and a half stars, rounded up because the author really is talented, I think.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.