At the start of this riveting Gilded Age mystery, a man is dead. What happened? One thread of the story follows his sister Janie in her quest for answers; another details his courtship of his wife five years earlier. With a compelling combination of historical detail, strong characters, and intricate plot, The English Wife will grab you immediately and keep you guessing until the shocking end.

The story starts right in the middle of the action: On frigid Twelfth Night, 1899, in the middle of a Shakespeare themed ball, Janie Van Duyvil and her cousin Anne find Janie’s brother Bay dying of a stab wound and his wife, Annabelle, missing, presumably fallen into the river below the folly. As part of high society, the couple’s murder is front page material. The press descends in droves, speculating on the deaths. Did Annabelle kill her husband, then flee? Was it a love triangle, as there were rumors that Annabelle was having an affair with the architect of their new house? Did Bay kill Annabelle and then himself?

From there out, the story alternates time lines: the 1899 present, as Janie seeks to find the truth behind the murders, and the past, when Bay and Annabelle first met and courted. Janie finds herself pairing up with James Burke, a newsman working for a paper with a bad rep who wants to write real news.

Annabelle and Bay have secrets, lots of them. To tell here would ruin the book for readers; suffice it to say that neither is who they appear on the surface. But it’s not just their story. It is also the story of Janie. At the start, Janie is the person who melts away into the background. Her mother is a verbally abusive control freak, and Janie is her favorite target. She’s spent a life time learning to disappear. Her cousin Ann even stole her fiancé. Her growth and flowering through the story is wonderful to watch.

There is a lot of description of all the trappings of wealth; the clothing, the jewels, the house décor. And while it might seem a bit excessive, it really belongs there: the wealth, the society it embodies, is, if not a character, is certainly a force in the story that exerts itself mightily on the characters.

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the characters of Janie and Annabelle. The identity of the killer actually took me by surprise. Five stars.

What a great book! I had heard of this author before but not read any of her books; now I will read them all!

Bayard Van Duyvil and Annabel Lacey meet in London in the 1800's when she is an actress and he is avoiding his past. Bay sort of rescues Annabel from an uncomfortable situation, and they develop a romantic relationship. Annabel is on her own and Bay marries Georgi and takes her home to his aristocratic snobby mother, his retiring sort of spinster sister Janie, and his troublesome cousin Anne, who lives with them. They seem to have it all: romance, money, beautiful twins, houses in the city and on the water...what more could they ask for? Then Bay ends up dead at a party and Annabel goes missing. The press goes wild: did Annabel kill Bay because of a romance with someone else? Did Bay kill Annabel and then stab himself? Who really is Annabel; is she who she says, or someone else? And who is this Burke guy, who is writing all these stories in the newspaper? Janie, Bay's sister, just wants two things in life: to be herself, and to find out the truth of what happens. She meets up with Burke and the unlikely duo begin working to find clues and solve the mystery, but it's very hard to sort truth from fiction.

Willig does an excellent job building suspense and throwing in twists and turns. There is an aristocrat who claims to be Annabel's cousin; but who is he really and what does he want from the Van Duyvil's? What role does Anne play in all this? I couldn't put the book down, I just had to know what the real story was! This is a great read, and I highly recommend it!

Great book for the combination of snow and rain alternating out my window right now. I enjoyed it, thank you!

Was not what I was expecting, a bit darker than her other stories. Think this is one I need to go back and reread, my preset thoughts on her writing style may have influenced how I felt.

Utterly engaging and heartbreaking at times. I love this time period and the story. It is a little confusing at the start with the different timelines and similar-sounding names (George, Georgie, Anne, Annabelle, etc.), but once I got a handle on that, I did not want to stop reading! Will definitely recommend to patrons and customers seeking historical fiction. I think historical romance fans may also enjoy it for the setting and the complications that love brings in this story, as long as they're aware that the emphasis is on the mystery.

I couldn't get into this one--the writing was so cliched.

I highly enjoyed this novel and the writing style of the author. She's very talented. What kept this book being a five-star for me is I wish we saw more of Annabelle's backstory first-hand. There are memories depicted of Georgie's past else, but I would've loved to have experienced more moments of the girls growing up along with seeing their schemes come to life, as I feel these moments greatly affected the current day Georgie. Overall, a book I'd definitely recommend.

This wonderful book started out with a murder/suicide and went full throttle from there! I loved all the twists and turns throughout the book and the characters were great! Janie was my favorite and she found out how strong she was as the book went on. I received an advanced review copy of this book from The Great Thoughts Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

Characters leap off the page to entwine you in their scandals and secrets. Author brings The Gilded Age to life.

Lauren Willig is one of my favorite authors, and I always enjoy her books. This one is definitely darker than her other books! One of her strengths is writing very likable characters. Georgie was sympathetic right away, but Janie took a little time for me--she was such a doormat at first. I did end up really cheering for Janie and enjoying her character arc, and I sympathized with Georgie, but it maybe was not quite as simple as usual. I actually think, in another author's hands, no one would have been likable, so she did an excellent job making us pull for some complicated characters. There was a lot in this story that was just sad and felt heavy, which I wasn't entirely expecting. Life is unhappy for almost everyone for a majority of the book, so you do have to stick that out to get to the end. There were some twists and turns that kept me guessing and a few surprises, so the mystery was well-executed. The romance felt quick and not as developed as it could have been, but there were a lot of other things going on the story that it had to be balanced with. Overall, this wasn't my favorite of Willig's books, but not in a way that makes me concerned I won't like her future books. I think this just wasn't exactly the story I was expecting, but the writing was what I expected, so I look forward to her next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Not as good as the Pink Carnation series, but a pretty good read. It took a long time to get to the bottom of what happened and it was a little confusing, but it was a good travel read, as you could pick it back up rather quickly. The depiction of New York around the turn of the 20th century was well written. I enjoyed the "upstairs/downstairs" parts of the story.

Behind the scenes of a gilded party lays a dead host and missing hostess.
Annabelle and Bayard (Bay) Van Duyvil are a charming couple. Bayard known in the ranks of Knickerbocker families and Annabelle is from England from a Tudor family. For his wife, Baynard is building a replica of her home in England. A gothic mansion called Illyria. Supposedly rumors have been spreading that Annabelle is having an affair with the architect and not all is what it seems. The Duyvils host a Twelfth Night Ball, which is also the day of their demise. Headlines screech, Murder, and state that Baynard killed his wife (and vice versa). The only one who wants to push past the secrets and discover the truth of what happened is Janie Duyvil, Bay's sister. The English Wife takes on two parts of a story. You get the perspective of Janie and the mysterious Georgie (an important individual from Bay's past and present). To find out what really happened to brother and sister-in-law, Janie forms an alliance with a reporter (which is a big no from society) and she unearths truths that she couldn't have dreamed of.
Lauren Willig kudos to you because I read this book during my lunch break mind you in a somewhat talkative environment and I was drawn into the pages. An ice cold, gilded age, gothic environment was envisioned so easily by your descriptive words.

This book is very different from Willig’s Pink Carnation series. It’s a gothic mystery along the lines of Rebecca. The story alternates between Bay and his wife Georgie’s story from when they meet up until their murders and Bay’s sister Janie’s POV as she tries to piece together what really happened to Bay and Georgie. Janie works with a reporter to uncover the truth. Did Georgie murder her husband and disappear? Were both of them murdered by someone else? Georgie’s mysterious estranged cousin perhaps? Or Anne, Bay and Janie’s cousin and Bay’s best friend, or perhaps more?

The tension of the story pulled me through, and although I had my suspicions about what happened, I was by no means certain until the very end when the truth was revealed.

This story has a lot of twists and turns that kept me interested in the book. I was not familiar with any of Willig's previous books. This book was also set in a time period that I am not as familiar with as many others.

I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Though's Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

There are certain types of stories that will always appeal to me. Turn of the century New York. Old brownstones. People with too much money. Gothic storylines. Murder. I'll always read these.

The English Wife by Lauren Willig has all of this. Bay and Annabelle are a glamourous couple. They had a whirlwind romance in Europe and are living the gilded life in New York. OR ARE THEY? After Bay is found murdered and Annabelle is missing after their Twelfth Night Ball, the truth starts to unravel.

Bay's sister, Janie, is what would be called a 'plucky upstart'. She works secretly with a handsome tabloid reporter to find the truth. Who was Annabelle? Who killed Bay? Was Annabelle having an affair? Who was Bay...really? Is anyone truly happy?

This is a story that kept my attention until the very end. There's mystery, there's romance, there's murder!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Lauren Willing for the advance copy of this book in exchange for this review.

I found the characters confusing and the plot was hard to follow. I liked the premise of a gothic mystery set in the New York gilded age, but it didn't live up to my expectations. I enjoyed some parts, but the flow was not working for me.

It begins with Bayard Van Duyvil found with a knife in his chest on the night of a Ball at his family home. I thought this mystery would be center in the plot and that suspects would be drawn out and examined, but there were too many side stories and discussions of how family members met years before. It felt disconnected and the big reveal at the end was disappointing and honestly not at all worth reading nearly 400 pages to get too.

“The English Wife” begins with one murder—or is it two? It’s the evening of Annabelle and Bayard’s “Twelfth Night”-inspired ball, and after the couple disappears, family members go to search for them. Anne, Bay’s cousin, and Janie, Bay’s sister, are shocked to find Bay taking his last breaths after suffering a stabbing. Janie thinks she sees Annabelle’s body in the water nearby, but when the body isn’t recovered, the presumed murder-suicide begins to look like a straightforward murder. Annabelle and Bay seemed to have a loving marriage, so no one can believe that either of the pair could kill the other. Janie, wholeheartedly believing in her brother and sister-in-law’s innocence, recruits Burke, a journalist, to help her uncover the truth of what really happened that night.

Interspersed with the present-day ramifications of the murder(s), Willig delivers narratives from the past five years that show the beginning—and end—of the relationship between Bay and Annabelle (whom Bay first knew as Georgie). Their relationship, which at first appears to be exactly what Georgie wanted, soon turns into an abnormal arrangement. While the public perception of the two is mostly positive, the Bay/Georgie chapters reveal a secret to the reader that would ultimately lead to the undoing of the Van Duyvil family.

I liked “The English Wife,” but I can’t say that it seemed particularly special to me. I enjoyed reading Georgie, Janie and Burke’s characters, but I did not care for the others. I especially disliked Anne, whom I felt was only present as a distraction from the real meat of both timelines. Her character seemed very smoke-and-mirrors to me, and at times she acted in a way that didn’t make sense for the character; it was as if she were there solely to make the reader suspicious of her.

I also didn’t care for Bay, whom I thought to be incredibly selfish and foolish with his relationship with Georgie. It made me sad to see Georgie being used the way she was. Though she had her faults, I wanted her to be happy, and it appears that the world wanted something different for her. I really did not care for the “secret” angle Willig took with Bay’s character. His marriage with Georgie made me think of another book, “The Miniaturist,” in which a similar relationship occurs. As much as I enjoy racy plots during period dramas, I feel like this plot line is starting to get old very fast.

When I reflect on this novel, I realize that my biggest problems with the book lay in the Georgie/Bay chapters, rather than the present-day chapters. I thought the investigation into Bay’s death was engaging, and I loved the developing relationship between Janie and Burke. It was exciting to be along with Janie as she and Burke made inquiries into her brother’s relationship with his English wife. Though I found the ending to be a bit contrived (particularly the last death that occurs), I thought that the book was altogether good.

I love, love, love this book! You know those books that pull you in right from the start and you simply don't want to put them down? You go to bed late and wake up early to read? Well, this was it for me.

It is 1899 and Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil are throwing a 12th night ball for New York's 400 society celebrating their newly built home. The festive evening takes a horrid turn when Bayard (Bay) is discovered stabbed and dying, and Annabelle is missing. Did Bay murder Annabelle? Did Annabelle stab Bay and flee?

Annabelle and Bay's story was an intriguing but sad one. I enjoyed reading how they came together, the sacrifices they made for each other, and the betrayals that changed their course. It was fascinating to see how the standards set by society influenced not only their lives but those they loved. I must admit that while it is so very interesting to read about high society during that time, I would have absolutely no desire to experience it myself. Despite all the wealth, society was a very fickle friend with high expectations and no forgiveness. If one did not meet it's standards then out you would go.

Janie, is by far, my favorite character in this book. She has spent her 26 years living with her mother. A mother who essential rules New York society. Janie, when we first meet her, is sheltered, obedient, and largely ignored. By persuing what really happened to her brother and Annabelle she begins to figure out who she is and what she wants in life. She comes to understand society's expectations will never allow her to be who she is. " She had tried appropriate, and it had given her headaches. Maybe it was time to be gloriously, fearlessly inappropriate".

She really captured my attention and I found myself looking forward to the chapters of the book that dealt with her and her evolution. I was rooting for her to break free from her mother and society to do what she wanted.

Overall, this was an addictive read that I did not want to put down. I would highly recommend!

I received this ARC via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.





Reading Progress

I received a free copy from NetGalley. I liked how it went back from forth from the past to the present as the details of the murder are slowly discovered. A family full of secrets, an over powering mother, and relationships that are not what they appear to be all, combine for an interesting story set in the turn of the century. Lots of Shakespeare quotes too.