The Miseducation of Evie Hepworth by Matson Taylor
 
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The Miseducation of Evie Epworth "Such a joyful and uplifting read. Just the sort of thing that people will want to be reading right now." - Radio 2 Book Club |
"Tight, clever and riddled with wit. Like discovering Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones for the first time." - Joanna Nadin, author of The Queen of Bloody Everything
"A sweet, fizzy sherbet dib-dab of a book - deliciously nostalgic, hugely funny and ultimately heartwarming. The perfect book for our times." - Veronica Henry
From the back of the book:
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: 5/5 stars
Finally! After a number of book club members promising to choose a fun book and instead opting for books about climate change and dystopian futures, we ended the year on a light-hearted romp through in the north of England. From the start, this book moves quickly and the stories are hilarious.
The characters are well developed and you could really picture each of them with their unique quirks. I enjoyed that even the analogies were crafted to fit in this world, describing the sky as a sheet hung on a clothes line. It was also really interesting to me that the author, being a man, was able to capture the exuberance and desires of a teenage girl so well. Another book club member commented that she really like that there was no romantic storyline.
I think this was a lovely story of a young girl trying to find her place in the world with a good dash of fun. The story was a bit "wrapped up in a bow" for me at the end, but given the fantastical characters that were created, I can forgive this one small thing as I loved Evie and was happy for her to get the happy ending she deserved!