The Miseducation of Evie Epworth: The Bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club Pick

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This is a light hearted story with hilarious moments to make you laugh. What Evie sees to make her crash her car is something bizarre. This is a superficial novel, full of stereotypes. None of the characters seemed believable and I didn't care for any of them. Everybody was quite annoying in fact! Set in the 1960s, Evie is a 16 year old girl from Yorkshire and she lives with her widowed father and his 'housekeeper' (Christine) who is a younger woman with her heart set on marrying Evie's dad. Evie, of course, is not a fan of the idea and sets out to derail the relationship. Evie recognises that Christine is not necessarily in love with her father and because Evie dotes on her father she thinks he deserves better. Nothing ever adds us: they live on a farm, but despite the mention in the beginning that Evie distributes the farm's milk, nobody seems to be working at the farm. Or maybe the father, who is absent for most of the conversations/episodes, is doing all the work?

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is one of the funniest most enjoyable books that I have read. Author Matson Taylor has got the balance just right of a comical story all about Evie Epworth. Evie’s first-person narrative is punctuated by short excerpts from the past (entitled interlude) which tell the story of not only Evie’s parents marriage and move to the farm but her mother’s friendship with Mrs Scott-Pym and in turn her fraught relationship with Caroline. Weaving past and present together adds depth to the story and keeps Evie’s mother, who died when she was one, ever present in the story. Alongside Evie’s own journey the major subplot centres on Mrs Scott-Pym coming to terms with, and accepting, her own daughter’s life choices and this was both subtly handled and an entirely unexpected source of joy. The most wonderful thing about this book is Evie's voice. Written by an adult male, I am in awe of how well he made me believe that I was reading the thoughts and words of a adolescent girl. On top of that, Evie is hilarious. She is sweet and caring but oh so very naive, yet weirdly astute despite her naivety. She cares deeply for her next door neighbour Mrs Scott-Pym, and as the book progresses she meets an array of characters who help her to figure out her identity, and the kind of woman she wants to grow up to be. Within the first chapter I was laughing out loud and grinning ear to ear and knew that Evie Epworth was going to be one of my new favourite characters. For those of you who know me, you will know that I have suffered with Bovinophobia* all my life and all I can say is that I am glad I didn’t see the cover before reading it as it would have definitely put me off. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is a charming debut from Matson Taylor, featuring sixteen-year-old Evie in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside during the 1906s. This book delivered everything I love: quirky characters, zippy one-liners, heartfelt relationships, and real-life emotional struggle blended with humorous, light-hearted moments. Though perhaps I need to throw an asterisk on “humorous” because we’re talking dry, witty British humor here, and that’s not going to make everyone laugh out loud. Given my British roots, though, I found it enjoyable and I think many others will as well.Apart from these three we have Christine’s awful mum Vera, her obese friend Mrs Swithenbank, superstitious Mrs Scott-Pym next door (you’ll find out why I say she is superstitious when you get to that bit) and her wonderfully eccentric, estranged daughter Caroline. This will certainly be one of my favourite books of the year. It occurs to me I read so many books about devious characters I'm almost agog when people turn out to be kind and generous. That's certainly the case with Mrs Scott-Pym and her daughter who are there for Evie when she most needs guidance and friendship. I read this via The Pigeonhole over the course of ten days and in ten daily installments. Every day I finished one stave I wanted more and more. I was also approved for a copy via Netgalley, but managed to control my impulse to rush on ahead as the community reading on The Pigeonhole is such a great experience. We then learn the reason she's flying on her milk-delivery round is because she's borrowed her father's pride and joy, his MG. Which she's not supposed to drive. And the reason she's borrowed it is because she and her friend celebrated their O levels by getting drunk on a mix of spirits Evie pilfered from her father's drinks cabinet the night before and she woke late and hungover for her milk-delivery. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is the first novel by British author, Matson Taylor. At sixteen and a half, Evie Epworth is faced with a decision: what to do with the rest of her life. There are plenty of suggestions (marry a farmer [Dad], do her A levels [best friend Margaret], work in a hair salon [Christine], marry a doctor [Mrs Swithenbank]). This is where she so misses having a mum.

Matson Taylor grew up in Yorkshire but now lives in London. He is a design historian and works at the V&A museum, where he teaches on the History of Design programme and spends a lot of time trying to convince people that the luxury goods industry helped win the Second World War. He wrote a chapter on Edward Molyneux, inventor of the flapper dress, for the V&A’s London Couture book and has helped develop a number of projects for TV and radio. He also works at Imperial College, helping scientists communicate very complicated things in a reasonably simple way. I am Evie, sixteen and a half, as wise as a tree, as tall as time, the fastest milk bottle in East Yorkshire, hurtling towards Womanhood. p 7 It hasn’t helped my phobia, but it made me laugh and I know I won’t forget “that scene” in a long time. We have the chance for you to win 10 copies of this fantastic novel for your reading group! Please enter by Friday 14 August. Tight, clever and riddled with wit. Like discovering Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones for the first time.’ Joanna Nadin, author of The Queen of Bloody Everything

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth

Oh this book is the perfect antidote to all of the horrendous things that seem to be on the news this year! Planning to buy The Miseducation of Evie Epworth for your group? Buy books from Hive and support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no extra cost to you. The fastest milk bottle-delivery girl in East Yorkshire, Evie is tall as a tree and hot as the desert sand. She dreams of an independent life lived under the bright lights of London (or Leeds). The two posters of Adam Faith on her bedroom wall (‘brooding Adam’ and ‘sophisticated Adam’) offer wise counsel about a future beyond rural East Yorkshire. Her role models are Charlotte Bronte, Shirley MacLaine and the Queen. But, before she can decide on a career, she must first deal with the malign presence of her future step-mother, the manipulative and money-grubbing Christine. I absolutely loved the characters in this, they were all so vibrant and vivid. It’s a perfect summer read and had me smiling from ear to ear. Evie herself isn’t an annoying protagonist like some younger characters can be. She had a maturity whilst maintaining a young aura. I just wanted to wrap myself up in village life. I know there are parts of growing up covered in this that many of us will relate to. It is set in 1962 which made it feel both modern and historical.