Book Review: The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey
Here’s my review of The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have any book recommendations to share.
The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick is a novel with dual points of view that many historical fiction and contemporary fiction readers will probably enjoy. Unfortunately, it was not a favorite of mine, as I wasn’t able to root for either of the main characters. This may not be the case for many other readers out there, however.
I found the main character, Evelyn, to be detached and somewhat petty and exploitative, and couldn’t root for anything she did over the course of the novel. Overall, she didn’t seem that emotionally attached to anyone, including her father— at least, not in a way that would warrant the life-altering decisions she made regarding her husband’s horrible behavior, or her own future. I also found her too self-absorbed to make the decision she made to ‘protect’ her mother, especially when they didn’t seem to have a close bond. And I found that how she talked about and treated Peter (whose fate was all too convenient for her) was unwarranted and passively cruel.
I am also realizing that this novel’s type of revenge narrative is not for me, as it didn’t seem to serve Evelyn well in the long run. She still wasn’t known as an author or able to publish her own work in the end. Her abuser was never outed in all the ways that really mattered either. Other than a slight blemish on his reputation, Evelyn’s husband didn’t end up enduring any real consequences for his behavior.
By the end of the novel, I wanted Evelyn to either be blind with rage and vengeance, ensuring her wrong doers truly suffered as she triumphed, or I wanted to see her suffer real inner moral turmoil for all the things she endured and did. But neither occurred. So, I couldn’t detest her character or root for her character in the end. Instead, I simply found her character a bit passive, whiny, and obnoxious, I’m sorry to say. Other readers probably won’t feel this way about her character, however.
The other main character, Abby, was a little less detached than Evelyn, but I didn’t find myself rooting for her either, as I found her to also be a bit self-absorbed, and a bit entitled— especially when we find out, toward the end of the novel, who paid her credit card bills the entire time she was living rent-free in England. And I just didn’t understand why her narrative was included in the novel, I’m sorry to say.
I did find the mystery of what happened to Evelyn somewhat intriguing at the beginning of the novel, but didn’t root for Abby’s pursuit of it, as I didn’t really feel attached to Abby’s drive and initiative to discover the truth about what had happened to Evelyn— it just felt like she was bored and felt lost in her own life, and that was it.
And lastly, I did not end up fully understanding why the moonstone was included in the novel and how it influenced or was related to the ‘curse’ of women married to Aubrey men (who came from different backgrounds) drowning themselves or pretending to drown themselves. Were we to ultimately believe there was some type of paranormal force at work in the novel, or was this some sort of red herring? This wasn’t clear to me, and I found it extraneous in the end.
Overall, I think some readers might enjoy this novel. So, if the description of the novel intrigues you, please pick it up and give it a try, and don’t be dissuaded by my personal experience.
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© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
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