The Miseducation of Evie Epworth

I was hooked from the first page; I understood everything about Evie, she could have easily been my best friend. We were born in Yorkshire, the same year, moved from Adam Faith to the Beatles, and craved sophistication. A warm and happy book, wonderfully crafted by Matson Taylor, each character as clear as if they’d been drawn on the page. I wish it had lasted another few hundred pages!

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is the joyous period novel that centres around, family – the one you are related too and the one that you create with the people around you.Evie Epworth is sixteen years old and ready to tackle the big wide world. Her father’s fiancé has other ideas about what Evie should be doing with her future and thus begins our Cinderella story that involves, injury, sexual liberation, cake and cows.Evie’s greatest challenge is revealing to her father the terrible behaviour of her soon-to-be stepmum, Christine, and to somehow become a fabulous scenester in London. With the help of her community of friends and neighbours and a bit of modern day technology she tackles Christine head on regardless of the consequences which in Evie’s case consists of a full time job in a hairdressers.I really enjoyed reading The Miseducation of Evie Epworth. It was a lovely distraction from life. It won’t be the story that changes your life but it will put a smile on your face. The perfect holiday read and I am so excited for the sequel.The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor is available now.

I have very much enjoyed reading this book as it is the perfect antidote to my l life at present.The characters are very well portrayed and there is an element of Cinderella to the tale with Christine and Vera as the ugly stepsisters/ wicked stepmother.Not too challenging but every book needs to be .was intrigued by the author taking 4 years to write the story and I appreciate the efforts she has made to make all the characters come to life on the page

Funny and well written, this book is easy to read, drawing you in and enfolding you in such an enchanting hug, that you won’t want it to end. Having taken sixteen-year-old Evie into your heart, her battles become yours as do her community. Thus includes a loving but weak-willed father, Arthur; his manipulative girlfriend, Christine; Evie’s best friend, Margaret, and the loyal but enigmatic Mrs Scott-Pym. Comic duo, Vera and Doris, make frequent appearances, interacting with other characters with hilarious results.From Yorkshire himself, Matson Taylor has a deft eye for the humour spilling from exchanges between people, and his razor-sharp wit keeps the story bubbling along at a cracking pace. The characters are instantly recognisable as people you might once have met, or seen somewhere, or heard about, and the setting is rural Yorkshire at its best. The plot unfolds relatively gently but with an acerbic edge which keeps you reading and willing the lovely Evie to make it through the bumpy ride of adolescence, hopeful, intact and on the right path.A 1960s child myself, I loved the timescale of the book though there are also flashbacks to Arthur’s youth in the 1930s and his romance with Evie’s mum. Similar flashbacks for other characters combine to provide an interesting change of mood, balancing the humour nicely and bringing a more pensive side to the story.A delightful read which will amuse and move you in equal measure. Highly recommended.

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is one of my favourite books of 2020. Set on a farm in Yorkshire in 1962, Evie is sixteen-and-a-half years old and trying to decide what direction her future will take. Everyone around her seems to have an opinion, and while Evie may be naïve she is no pushover; she will make up her own mind.Evie’s mother died when she was very young, but flashbacks help to keep her included in the narrative, and also show her father in a more sympathetic light. At the beginning of the book their housekeeper, Christine, has moved in, and is going to marry Evie’s father. Evie is not happy as she can see right through Christine, and is not fooled by the act her father has fallen for.The Miseducation of Evie Epworth features a cast of sharply observed, strong female characters, each with their own unique voice. Matson Taylor has done a wonderful job of creating the voice of a believable and endearing teenage girl, and this is especially important because we see the world entirely through Evie’s eyes. Christine personifies the wicked stepmother stereotype with her scheming, plotting and downright nasty behaviour – for some reason she reminded me of the female character, Piella Bakewell, in the Wallace & Gromit film A Matter of Loaf and Death.Evie enjoys spending time with her neighbour, Mrs Scott-Pym, who was a friend of her late mother and can share memories with her. When Mrs Scott-Pym is injured in a fall, her daughter, Caroline, comes home, and Evie suddenly has someone else fighting her corner. Caroline lives a glamorous and sophisticated life in London, and opens Evie’s eyes to all sorts of new experiences.The period detail is spot on; even though I was slightly younger than Evie in 1962, I can still remember it all quite clearly. When she hears the Beatles for the first time, she is smitten and Adam Faith is consigned to history.At times I laughed out loud while reading this book which has just the right balance between humour and sadness. Evie has her whole life ahead of her, and I look forward to reading the next instalment.