This was my experience I pretty much completely failed to appreciate The Jane Austen Book Club, to my dismay and astonishment; but I found this one impossible to put down and extremely gripping. I went into it with essentially no spoilers and in fact a misapprehension: my partner had read aloud three very funny bits, and I knew Fowler was capable of being very funny. I don't usually look at book covers or read blurbs because I don't like spoilers; also it was a library book and some of the cover art was concealed. So it was all a total surprise to me and the bad parts were very shocking, but I felt they were worth it.

I have several writers that I react to as Rachel does to Fowler, chief among them Lisa Goldstein, whom I always feel I am reading through a thick sheet of glass that dulls hearing, sensation, and thought. Drives me crazy because I should absolutely love her books. Reading is very odd, when you think about it.

P.