An intriguing mystery set in the last decade of the 19th Century...the Gilded Age. The story begins at a high society party, where the host is found dead and his wife is missing. His sister is convinced there's more to the story than the press would lead you to believe, so she decides to seek out the truth. The story alternates between the early 1890's when the couple originally met and the current time. As the story goes on, the two timelines move closer and closer together until the final moments where the truth is discovered. I found this to be a very engaging story...had to read it in one sitting. I enjoyed the characters and the writing...with plenty of satisfying twists. If you like a historical whodunit...with a mix of class, greed, and the trials of society at the turn of the 19th Century...then I would highly recommend this book. It drags a little in the middle but more than makes up for it in the end.

I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book took a little time to get in to, but in the end was so worth it. Chapters alternate between two different time periods - premurder and postmurder. While at times this was confusing, it gave "behind the scenes" clues that weren't available to the other characters involved. This helped to make the characters more alive to the reader. Hope this is the beginning of a new series.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

Despite a promising beginning, the book wasn't for me.
To tell you the truth I have a hard time revieiwing it because the universe was well constructed. I easily managed to imagine the places but unfortunately, the story itself was too dramatic and the characters way too predictible.

The cover for The English Wife is absolutely stunning, I just had to get that out of the way because I’ve looked at it a gazillion times! This was the perfect book to be my first review of the new year as I’m hoping to add more historical fiction to my TBR and I had heard wonderful things about Willig’s books so this was an easy pick for me. This was a beautifully rendered tale of love, betrayal and sacrifice all shrouded in a dark gothic mystery that swept me away to the gilded age.

This is told via dual timelines, but there isn’t a huge gap between them, one is in 1899 and the other begins just a few years before and details the events that lead to the murder of Bayard. Janie is his sister and she narrates the parts after his death and I really connected to her. She was an outsider in her own family, always just on the fringes of society despite being part of a prominent family and her insecurities made her easy to relate to.

This was so well written, Willig is a gifted writer who uses rich details to conjure up images that really came to life. There was drama and scandal aplenty, especially for the era, there were some taboo topics and surprising turns that I didn’t predict. I do want to add that it moved at a slow pace at times but I believe your patience will be rewarded if you keep reading, part of the charm is the attention to detail but it can be slightly verbose.

The story takes place in 1899 and begins with a murder and a disappearance. Janie is the quiet, wallflower sister who finds her brother murdered. She sets out to find the truth with the help from a journalist and in the process discovers hidden secrets in the aristocratic world she lives in.
The story is told in flashbacks as seen through Janie's brother and the girl, Annabelle that he falls in love with and later marries. Later, Annabelle is blamed for his death, but she too has disappeared.

This story was a fun read with twists and turns that kept me wanting to find out more.

It seems like since Downton Abbey there is been a resurgence in books set in the Edwardian era and the Gilded Age. I'm very glad that this is the first book that I have read in this time period, because it has really encouraged me to dive into this sub-genre. The English Wife is an historical fiction with mystery novel set in high society New York & London and opens with the murder of Bay Van Duyvil, son of wealthy New York family and the death or disappearance of his British wife Annabelle. From there the story splits into two parts: the tale of his sister Jane in the aftermath of the shocking murder and the story of Bay's trip to Europe, five years earlier.

This story captivated me from the shocking opening and kept me reading to find out what happened, through several twists and turns. The story is a sad one (opening with a murder), but also a bit hopeful at the same time. Lauren Willig does a good job of creating a world of opulence and restriction that these characters both inhabit and battle against. It was also interesting to see her portrayal of a 19th century court inquisition (I do love a good court case). This story had all the things I really like: a dual timeline, mystery, and a little romance.

I did get this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and my recommendation is to read it if you enjoy historical fiction and mysteries. In fact, I enjoyed this story so much, that I plan to go back and read an earlier book of Willig's that had gone on my DNF pile, The Other Daughter. I am looking forward to her next novel, for sure.

Willig takes the reader on a journey back to late nineteenth century New York, a time when the descendants of wealthy Dutch settlers ruled New York society. One of those such families, the Van Duyvils, suffer scandal at their very core when Bay Van Duyvil is murdered at a lavish house party at his estate, and one of the primary suspects is his missing wife, Annabelle.

While police initially think that Annabelle may have also been a victim of crime, they eventually start to believe that she may have been the perpetrator of Bay's murder. Annabelle is nowhere to be found despite numerous unsubstantiated reports of her subsequent appearance at various locations. But Bay's younger sister, Janie, is determined to find her brother's killer and breaks out of her shell to defy her mother's wishes and go to the press for assistance. She seeks the help of brash young Irish reporter James Burke, a man who seems to have disdain for her social class even as he is unwittingly attracted to her. 

Janie places her trust in James to find the truth about her brother's death. But as James gets closer to discovering who murdered Bay, he uncovers carefully hidden secrets about the Van Duyvil family and discovers that the killer may be closer at hand than he previously thought. As he seeks to protect Janie from danger, he begins to see her for the caring woman she is and realizes that she is  uncomfortable with the constrictions of her social status and seeks to find real love rather than an a marriage arranged to satisfy her difficult mother.

Willig uses flashback to go back in time to when Bay and Annabelle met in England. As the past and present of the novel slowly converge, secrets harbored by both Bay and Annabelle come to light, thereby increasing their list of enemies who might have wished them harm. 

The English Wife is rich with historical details especially in reference to class distinctions which created such a cavernous divide not to be crossed. These historical details add realism to the novel as Willig breathes life into it with her excellent character development and engaging suspense with the addition of romance between  orphaned James Burke and heiress Janie Van Duyvil. sherimelnick.wordpress.com

I received this book as an ARC from Net Galley.
This book is right up my alley taking place at the end of the 19th century in New York and England. It had a mystery woven into it and while there were no major twists in the story it was interesting and a page turner. I liked the characters and how they were developed.
Additionally, part of this story took place in NYC during a cold winter spell and one of the worst snow storms ever. It was very easy to imagine being there as it was so vividly written.
This was a good book and I plan to read more by this author!

This book was an easy pick for me. I love historical fiction and have read many of the books in Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation Series. It took me a little while to get into the story -- and to keep the flashbacks straight from the main story, but it definitely intrigued me as I got further along in the book. It had murder, mystery, family drama and romance -- what more could you ask for? Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this sneak peak!

I was really looking forward to reading this historical fiction set in New York's Gilded Age when I first found out about it.  I had put off reading it for awhile during my reading slump and I'm so glad I waited until I was out of it.  The book starts off rather slowly and jumps around the timeline a bit so it was a little confusing until I got the characters in order and the timeline.  Janie at first seems really mousy and timid, but she gradually comes out of her shell and becomes a really interesting character.  I found myself rooting for her to be successful in uncovering the truth about Bay and Annabelle with Mr. Burke, the reporter.  As with any mystery novel, I had my own suspicions about what the truth was but the twists were revealed to be quite different than my original ideas.  I really enjoyed that because it adds more to the mystery when the reveal leaves you shocked.  And there were many twists in this story!  What I really loved was that each little twist ended up being woven into what the BIG reveal was about what had happened to Bay and Annabelle.  This whole story ended up being an intricately woven piece of tapestry and the final image was fantastic and shocking.  While I struggled a bit with the book in the beginning, it was well worth the read.  I will be looking at reading more from this author.

If you are a fan of historical fiction told with a twist of mystery you will not be disappointed in The English Wife. Lauren Willig relates a compelling story told from two very different viewpoints. Readers won't unravel the carefully knotted mystery until the very end. Ms. Willig includes subtle commentary on the power and persuasion of great wealth through the narration of two young women who grew up under the influence and shadow of wealth, reputation and prestige. Georgie is a young actress, struggling to survive by acting in a disreputable theater. Janie is a seemingly colorless spinster, recently publicly humiliated by the defection of her fiance who chose to marry her cousin instead. Breaching continents, social strata and oceans these two narrators are united through a violent murder that permanently reshapes their lives and the lives of their families. Ultimately readers will ask the question, "Do wealth and reputation protect us or are they in fact the threat we should fear?" Intrigued? Don't miss The English Wife!!

4.5 stars...

The wait for a new Lauren Willig book was so worth it! (Most of you probably know of my love for her books) I loved this book full of twists and turns and rich with period detail. Set around the turn of the century, we get a slice of life in an aristocratic American family: the good, the bad, the ugly. Our main characters of Bayard Duyvil, his English wife Annabelle and his unmarried sister Janie start out at a grand party where things have definitely not gone as planned, and have in fact derailed with one person dead and another missing. It's full of atmospheric writing and characters that come alive. I was fully drawn in and was thoroughly immersed in the story. I felt as if I was there experiencing it all along with them. Secrets abound here-who will be able to unravel them and what will be the price for those left behind? The English Wife is juicy and dark, but also had a great focus on gaining confidence and standing up for oneself. Also how love comes in many forms and ways. Wonderful page turner that I can't wait to recommend to all my historical fiction fan friends!

**Many, many thanks to Lauren Willig, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for an ARC to read and honestly review. I was thrilled to get my hands on this book!**

The English Wife combines mystery and historical fiction in a masterful way. The details of a nineteenth century, privileged life, the character development and setting enhance the suspense until the very end. I highly recommend reading this book.

This is the first book that I have read by Lauren Willig. She is well known for her Pink Carnation Series and has also written standalone novels. The English Wife, (a standalone), was a page turner. To me, the book was like Jane Eyre crossed with Rebecca. If those are novels that you enjoyed, you may well enjoy The English Wife too!

Bayard is from a knickerbocker family but this doesn't stop him from marrying an actress with a past. These two live a charmed life until Bayard is murdered and Annabelle's past reveals itself.
I enjoyed the time setting of the rich and powerful during the Knickerbocker years. A perfect setting for this murder mystery. I also liked Annabelle. She is no nonsense and could care less about what most people think. She does not fall into the norm of the rich and powerful. Her spunk leads her to be an endearing character. Then there is Bayard. Bayard has a large secret as well. You need to read the book to find this out! "What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." This is the quote which comes to mind when thinking about Bayard.
The story is drawn out and way too long. That being said, I still enjoyed it, for the most part. I kept trying to figure out "who dunnit". I really like being stumped and the author did a fabulous job keeping me stumped till the very end.
With mansions, secrets and family drama, I felt very much like I was reading a gothic mystery. A nice change from plain historical fiction.
I received this novel from the publisher via Netgalley.

I liked this in the beginning, and the nugget of the story is good, but there was just too much melodrama and confusion for me by the end. I liked Georgie and Janie both, though I could have lived without just about every man in the story, especially as their presence contributes to all kind of red herrings that are more confusing than plot-enhancing. I was still mostly enjoying the book (albeit with a bit of head scratching as to why a lot of the information given to me was relevant to the plot at all), but the climax was more penny dreadful than Shakespearean. Could have liked it. Could have loved it. But sadly, not my favorite Willig. In fact, thinking back I'm wondering if I always find this thwarted potential in all the books of hers that I have read...

I haven’t read a lot of historical fiction. Historical romance, yes. But historical fiction, no. So when I saw that The English Wife was up for review, I figured….why not. I am glad that I did read this book. It gave me a good idea on how the “polite” society was during the turn of the century.

There are two plotlines in The English Wife. One plotline focuses the murder of Bayard Van Duyvil. It also focuses on the disappearance of his wife, Annabelle. The other plotline focuses on an actress named Georgianna. There is also a major subplotline about Bayard’s secret and the strain it put on his marriage. All those plotlines are brought together at the end of the book for a spectacular finish.

It took me a while to realize that Georgie and Annabelle were the same people. I catch on to stuff like that but for some reason, I didn’t here. I did feel bad for Georgie/Annabelle. She went from one bad situation to another. I do think that she handled Bayard’s secret with unusual grace for that time. She dealt with vicious rumors to protect Bayard and his secret. But, when her secret was found out, Bayard was upset with her and there was talk of divorce. He did forgive her, which made me go “WTF“. Her secret wasn’t as bad as his and he acted like it was the end of the world. Now, if his secret came out, that would have been a whole different story. So yeah, I felt bad for her.

I thought Bayard was a bit of a wuss. He couldn’t or wouldn’t stand up to his mother. His only act of defiance was marrying Georgie and that went over well. When Georgie confronts him after the party with what she saw, he didn’t deny what she saw. But he also didn’t confirm either. Actually, he deflected the blame to the other person involved in what she saw. When they were building their house, he finally came clean with her. Then moved the architect into their house for a little over 2 years. He didn’t see or ignored the rumors that started circulating. He was all about himself. He drove me nuts when he showed up in the book.

The star of this book was Janie. She started off the book as a meek woman who didn’t say boo to a goose. I mean, her own cousin ran off, married her fiancée and Janie didn’t have anything to say about it. She was pushed to the background because of her meekness and the fact that her mother had no use for her. But finding Bay’s body changed her for the better. The more she dug into his death and Annabelle’s identity, the more self-confident she was. A big help with that was James, a reporter for the local paper. He pushed her to go out of her comfort zone and look for answers. It was something she needed. By the end of the book, her transformation was incredible. I loved it!!

The mystery angle of The English Wife was written wonderfully. There is more than one mystery and they were wrapped up by the end of the book. There were some endings that I saw coming, some that I had a feeling was going to end up that way and one that blew my mind. The author did a wonderful job keeping me hooked on the book. I needed to find out what led up to Bayard’s death and the aftermath.

The drama angle went with the mystery angle. I liked that the author would end Georgie’s chapter on a somewhat dramatic note and then start-up Janie’s. Like the mystery angle, that kept me hooked. There is also a slight romantic angle too but it isn’t revealed until almost the end of the book.

The English Wife is told from Annabelle’s and Janie’s 3rd person perspective. The author chose to have the book written in chapters dedicated to one person and then switch to another. I do not like that. But the author did it in such a way that it didn’t disrupt the flow of a book.

The end of The English Wife was explosive. All the major plotlines were brought together and Bay’s murderer was revealed. I was not expecting who it was. I was floored.

The English Wife is a fast-moving historical mystery/drama. The characters were very well-written. The plot was interesting and multilayered. This is a book that I would recommend to family and friends.

Will I reread: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: mild violence

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The English Wife

All opinions stated in The English Wife are mine

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

My Review of “The English Wife” by Lauren Willig

It is just so amazing that Lauren Willig , Author of “The English Wife” is able to weave a tale with different genres and a colorful cast of characters. The genres of “The “English Wife” are Historical Fiction, Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery and Suspense.There are some surprising twists and turns. This is a captivating and intriguing novel.

Lauren Willig describes her characters as complex and complicated. There are secrets, lies and betrayals. There are strange identities. Is everybody who they say they are? What is the truth? Does it take a murder or disappearance to set the truth free? There is a divide among the haves and have nots, and the rich and poor. There also is a division of American Royalty and British Royalty. What a combination. There are rumors of infidelity and adultery. There is a replica of a house in America that is also in London.

The press is known for fabricating tales, but is also sometimes regarded as the gospel of truth. Why is it that people love to gossip and look into the flaws of other people?

Can knowing the truth be better than living with a lie? Kudos to Lauren Willig for masterminding this story with so much detail. I would highly recommend this mysterious and suspenseful novel for those readers that appreciate all the above genres. I received An Advanced Reading Copy for my honest review.

With 'The English Wife', Lauren Willig does a superb job of capturing the era and setting. The characters' plights and their interactions feel real. I especially loved the dialogue, which I could almost hear being spoken.

So, yes, there are some great things about this book, but I didn't love it. I'll explain:

The story is told in alternating timelines, giving us distinctly different side-by-side stories rather than one as a whole. We have the "present" timeline, taking place in 1899, with Janie as the standout main character. In the second timeline, we go back to 1894, with Bay and Georgie as the main characters. Within these two separate stories, we have several subplots and a lot of characters moving in and out. All the activity and shifting timelines takes away from the main focus of the story. To me, it all felt scattered.

While there are a lot of separate issues taking place, the pace is actually quite slow. The two stories converge about 3/4 of the way through the book, and this is when the pace picks up. I found the last quarter of the book much more enjoyable, as the focus narrowed and we stayed within the present timeline.

If you're looking for a historical family drama, and you don't mind alternating timelines, then give this one a try. My complaints are specific to me, and it truly is well written.

This is a pretty fun read - reads like a Wuthering Heights or Rebecca. But it was a tad too predictable to be successful. And the characters were a bit overdone (mother is too hateful, cousin too flighty, husband too angelic, Jane too timid - until shes predictably not timid at all). It kept my interest though and was well written.