Serena Burdick - The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey

England, 1898. When Evelyn first married the famous novelist William Aubrey, she was dazzled by his brilliance. But their newlywed bliss is brief when William is gripped by writer’s block, and he becomes jealous of Evelyn’s writing talent. When he commits the ultimate betrayal—stealing a draft of her novel and passing it off as his own—Evelyn decides to write her way out of their unhappy marriage.
California, 2006. Abigail always wondered about her father, his identity forever lost when her mother unexpectedly died. Or so Abigail thought, until she stumbled upon his photo and a message that her great-great-grandmother was the author Evelyn Aubrey, leading Abigail on a journey to England in search for answers. There, she learns of Evelyn’s shocking disappearance and how London society believed she was murdered. But from what she uncovers about Evelyn, Abigail believes her brilliant great-great-grandmother had another plot up her sleeve.
Rich in atmosphere and emotion, The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey tells the story of literary secrets, a family curse and the lengths women will go to take charge of their future.   

Comment: I am one of those readers who tend to like books about books or where books are an important part of the plot. Thinking about that and the fact this would have a dual time story I've agreed with a friend to do a buddy read. However, I don't think the execution was as great as I imagined it could...

In this book we have two timelines: In present day Abigail is still wondering about her father, someone she has never met. Searching things about him leads her to England, where he is originally from and, on the process, she stumbles on the name of Evelyn Aubrey, known for being the wife of famous author William Aubrey and for a small book of poems. With a photo, Abigail realizes her father is a descendant from this couple but everything is mysterious, especially how Evelyn is believed to have disappeared and no one knew how guilty her husband might have been.

At the same time Abigail investigates, we have the other timeline with Evelyn's story, a young woman who wants excitement and freedom and breaks up her engagement to marry William, someone who seduced her with all the possibilities of how a marriage between them would be marvelous. However, reality isn't as simple or vibrant...

On paper, the idea seems great. However, I don't think the author has managed the dual time sections as smoothly as she should, to make reading about each one as excitingly as it could have been. It's true that usually one time line is more appealing than the other but here, the one I liked the most wasn't always that engaging either, so... I don't feel properly impressed.

The historical section was very captivating. It is practically a given that when Evelyn, a woman with an independent spirit and a real talent for writing, decides to cancel her engagement with a man we are told is not very exciting, things can not go well. The man she chooses instead is vibrant and seductive but we get the idea that might not last or that it was just a way for her to feel seduced. As the pages go by, we get to see the tension and the stress accumulating and how too far apart they are and the lack of mutual trust. I cannot say this always so, but some situations were a bit predictable in how they played out.

The contemporary section was too bland for me. Abigail felt like a whiny and irresponsible person and while I can sympathize with her need to know more about her father, the fact she has been raised by grandparents who love her, I also felt annoyed she wasn't more receptive or understanding of their POV. I also think she was too immature emotionally, and nothing about her "voice" convinced me this was just because she didn't get to know who her father was. I think her decisions and personality only revealed someone I didn't care about.

The chapters alternate between the historical and the contemporary sections but I don't think this really helped the plot. I mean, I get it that the author did it so both times could be paced and the reader would feel interested but I'll confess that if this had been simply about the historical story, even with flaws, I'd have graded it higher, butt he mix of the two, while making some sense, just wasn't done well, in my opinion. The historical section is intriguing for the most part despite the obvious things, but the contemporary is just too boring.

I was also a little put off by Abigail's sudden decisions, even admitting she hasn't a lot of money, there she goes to England on a whim, she barely lets people know about this, and once there she just randomly finds the right place, conveniently can stay with the people - some sort of cousins of her father if I read it right - that now manage the house where the Aubreys used to live, doesn't have to pay anything - they don't want payment -  and at the same time this is like the perfect scenery for her to think of the ultimatum made by the man she loves, who loves her but with whom she felt she couldn't commit to. Too many convenient details...

The historical section was more engaging because it is obvious William will not be a good husband and there's some mystery on how Evelyn disappeared... on the contemporary  setting we only know this, not how she disappeared or of she was actually killed, as presumed. To be honest, I've found the resolution to this to be quite obvious from a certain moment on, just not exactly how. Still, the emotional content here was certainly more interesting to follow, and part of me wanted Evelyn to simply figure out how to do the right thing. Sadly, I think the author wanted both shock factor and drama, and she took things into a path with villains and greedy people and not really any kind of emotional HEA.

I mean, it's not like as if every story has to end well or with a HEA but the way things happened, this might have brought a more romantic/sweet expectation to how things might have been and, instead, it was more drama. I just feel the end was too confusing and with too many details which weren't that special. I lied some elements, yes, namely the way Evelyn felt about writing and all the possibilities of her life and how that part might have been, but the rest, rather meh.
Grade: 5/10