So, I know I said that I was just going through The Great American Read list. However, this showed up in the mail right before I went on Vacation. I totally forgot I pre-ordered it and after In a Dark, Dark Wood & The Woman in Cabin 10 , Ruth Ware has become one of my all time favorite authors. I’ve also read The Lying Game but it wasn’t my favorite.
Anyway, back to the present. I LOVED this book. It was just released on May 29 and stands its ground next to The Woman in Cabin 10. I’ve got the hardcover but being that we had an 8 hour drive to St. Augustine for vacation, I listened to most of it on audio book.
(Sidenote: If you have a local library card, download the Overdrive or Libby app and you’ll have access to that library’s Audio and E-books through whatever device you want. I’m, personally, set up with Linebaugh Public Library & Nashville Public Library )
The tricky thing about audio books is the book may be great but if the narrator sucks, the experience is going to suck. I’ve listened to some of the best books that were narrated by someone who doesn’t quite fit and it ruins everything. Or, what is worse, is when the author thinks they can narrative because they wrote it. That, in my experience, rarely meshes well together.
So back, to Mrs. Westaway. Not only did I love the book, I LOVE the narrator. Imogen Church is the best! She is a genius at being about to distinguish voices between characters as well as setting the scene with the tone of her voice. She narrates all of Ruth Ware’s other novels as well. As narrators go, she is so brilliant that I’ve branched out to other audio books that I normally wouldn’t have checked out, simply because she’s the narrator. I guess you could say I’m just as much a fan of Imogen Church as I am of Ruth Ware herself. She really puts other narrators to shame.
Ok, now that I’ve reviewed the format (and established my love for the narrator), let me get to the book itself. Don’t worry, I wont give away any spoilers. Here is a snapshot of the plot. Harriet Westaway is a 21-year-old tarot reader who is barely making ends meet, after the unexpected death of her mother, and owes a loan shark a LOT of money, when she is contacted by an attorney for an estate belonging to her alleged “Grandmother”. Believing the estate attorney made a mistake but seizing the opportunity of possibly repaying the loan shark and saving her life, Harriet (or “Hal”) heads to the estate anyway with the intention of impersonating the true Harriet Westaway and taking the inheritance.
Using the skills of fortune-telling, and a little bit of Con artistry, that her mother passed down to her, Hal starts uncovering as much as she can about the Westaway family but digs up way more than she asks for. Why didn’t her mother ever mention the Westaway family? Is she truly related or is this a giant mix-up? Will she pull this off before the loan shark’s men find her? What is with all the magpies?
As I mentioned in previous posts, I like to find a quote or passage from each book I review, that really stood out to me. In this case, that passage was found on p.129-130:
“Touch Wood. She knew what her mother would have said to that. In fact, she could picture her so exactly, the wry shake of her head, the smile quirking at the corner of her mouth. Suddenly Hal longed for her so much that it was like a physical pain around her heart.
Never believe it, Hal. Never believe your own lies.
Because superstition was a trap — that was what she has learned, in the years of plying her trade on the pier. Touching wood, crossing fingers, counting magpies–they were lies, all of them. False promises, designed to give the illusion of control and meaning in a world in which the only destiny came from yourself. You can’t predict the future, Hal, her mother had reminded her, time and time again. You can’t influence fate, or change what’s out of your control. But you can choose what you yourself do with the cards you’re dealt.
That was the truth, Hal knew. The painful, uncompromising truth. It was what she wanted to shout at clients, at the ones who came back again and again looking for answers that she could not give. There is no higher meaning. Sometimes things happen for no reason. Fate is cruel, and arbitrary. Touching wood, lucky charms, none of it will help you see the car you never saw coming, or avoid the tumor you didn’t realize you had. Quite the opposite, in fact. For in that moment that you turn your head to look for the second magpie, in the hope of changing your fortune from sorrow to joy–that’s when you take your attention away from the things you can change, the crossing light, the speeding car, the moment you should have turned back.
The people who came to her booth were seeking meaning and control–but they were looking in the wrong place. When they gave themselves over to superstition, they were giving up on shaping their own destiny.
Well, if there was one thing Hal had learned, it was that she would not be caught in that trap. She would shape her own life. She would change her own future. She would make her own luck. “
One of the great things about Ruth Ware novels is her development of characters. I truly found myself engulfed in each character in the book. From paunchy, arrogant Harding, Soft spoken, lovable Abel, Dashing, sarcastic Ezra and creepy Mrs. Warren, each character jumps from the pages with multi dimensions.
This book is a true page turner with an element suspense that keeps you guessing until the end while incorporating a slight chill of “Something’s not quite right, here.”
Even though I listened to this novel mostly on audio, I am very glad that I purchased in hardcover as well. This will be going up on my shelf as one of my favorites.
If you loved the NY Time’s bestseller, The Woman in Cabin 10, then definitely pick up The Death of Mrs. Westaway. Maybe grab In a Dark, Dark Wood while you’re at it. You can thank me later.
Trial & Error 