The Book of Essie

by Meghan MacLean Weir

ALEX AWARD WINNER
FINALIST FOR THE 2018 NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD

"Both timelessly beautiful and unbelievably timely." —Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant 

Esther Ann Hicks—Essie—is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. So when Essie’s mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she immediately arranges an emergency meeting with the show’s producers. Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Pass the child off as Celia’s? Or do they try to arrange a marriage—and a ratings-blockbuster wedding?

Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their love story to the media through exclusive interviews with the infamously conservative reporter Liberty Bell, Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?

• ISBN10: 0525520317
• ISBN13: 9780525520313
• Publish Date: 12 June 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 October 2023
• Imprint: Knopf Publishing Group
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

I really enjoyed this book. I heard about it on a podcast, and the intersection of reality shows + fundamentalism + scandal is all my interest points. Recommend for anyone who enjoys those realms, or who like rotating perspectives.

[girlinthepages]

The Book of Essie had been on my radar for a while because if you know me, you know I am fascinated with any contemporary books that tackle the topic of religion. I'm also a sucker for reality TV so this novel was right up my alley as it focuses on Essie, a teenager who has grown up in a very conservative, religious household with her pastor father, controlling mother and various siblings, a life which is all captured on the reality tv show "Six for Hicks." As expected, there's more than meets the eye with the Hicks family and Essie's story begins with her pregnant and everyone deciding how to handle the situation and avoid scandal.

I have to say that I loved Essie. A Slytherin to her core, she's someone who has grown up in a very stressful environment what with everything in her life being subject to being filmed and manipulated but instead of becoming a victim, she's quietly studied her parents and producers for years and has learned how to scheme, manipulate, and pull the strings behind the curtain just like the rest of them. While this may not make her the most "likeable" protagonist, it certainly makes her one with agency and determination even with in horrible situations and she exudes a different kind of strength than most protagonists. I enjoyed watching her "play the game" and slowly guiding her parents, producers and audience into the narrative she wants to create around her pregnancy as a means to finally escaping to freedom.

While the novel is heavy on family politics and small town drama, it also takes a much darker turn toward the end (which I was expecting but admittedly still horrified by). The plot twist was revealed in such a dramatic fashion that had me completely immersed in the story, but then the book pretty much ended! There were a few pages that jumped ahead in time to a few years after to see how Essie was doing, but I really didn't feel I received very much closure as a reader or got to see the aftermath of such a huge bomb dropping so late in the book, which is the reason I rated the story 4 stars instead of 5.

Overall: An extremely compelling read about the sinister secrets behind reality tv and the devastating power of ignorance in both religion and family, The Book of Essie is an intense yet addictive story. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages