Beautifully written prose. It took me the first 10 to 20 pages to get into it, but then I fell hard. It called to me to be read, to not be put down. I absolutely loved the location for part one. The scenes with Charlotte and her tutor while they are experimenting and learning together was exceptional to me. I loved the topics and Charlotte's enthusiasm so much that I was disappointed when the scene shifted to Edinburgh and the story of her parents' life together. It took me a bit to get back into accepting the change of scenery and characters until I found myself much to my surprise equally enthralled. From that point on it begins shifting between the two timelines and the family's history and secrets truly begin to unfold. A cautionary tale about how even though we may keep things from our loved ones in hopes of protecting them, eventually all truth comes out.
I can't say enough how beautifully written Fayne is, very highly recommended. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm a HUGE Ann-Marie MacDonald fan and this book did not disappoint. She is a fabulous writer and grabs you in to the story and the setting. Of course the book is lengthy - that's how this fabulous author rolls - but the commitment is worthwhile and you feel a sense of sadness and completion when it it finished. Do yourself a favour and give this a read!!

Loved it! What a completely original coming of age story! So many emotions stirred with each chapter

A lovely and enveloping historical fiction. Totally worth the read for anyone looking for historical fiction reading!

I'm just a liminal girl in a liminal manor house in the moorlands.

Charlotte is kept sheltered from the world due to a mysterious medical condition. She sees a few servants and her brilliant but reclusive scientist father. The introduction of few strangers into Charlotte's life ultimately lead to the end of her isolation. Charlotte has bigger dreams than being a wife, she wants to be a scientist like her father but education for women is not common and difficulties arise due to "her condition." I have to say that I thought I knew where this story was going, but I did not. It surprised me more than once.

The story alternates between Charlotte's and back in time to her parents courtship and their marriage. This is a story that tells very epic stories through the eyes of a few characters. The writing is beautiful and evocative. I felt like I was in the moors with the characters. It is unsurprising that there is a little vein of magic and folklore throughout. It felt like an organic and intrinsic part of the story. There are plenty of parts that horrify and enrage. The world was not kind to women in this time and place. The ending was gentler than I was expecting and I'm really glad for it. I was anticipating having my heart ripped out but instead found it positive and life affirming. This book made me feel all the feels and left me pleased and not gutted.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, Knopf Canada for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

This book is very well written and very well researched and the moorland setting is beautifully described. Charlotte is quite the character and when cultural confines are placed on her as a young woman, you can feel her betrayal through the pages.

However, I did not finish the book due to my own issues and not that of the author. Had I done some research ahead of time about the book I would not have requested an early copy as I struggle with the historical fiction genre.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful, creative and mystical story of an insatiably curious girl finding her place in her family and the world. Deeply touching and brimming with lyrical prose. This is a book to lose yourself in.

I fell in love with Charlotte and her insatiable need for knowledge and her joy of learning science. I have never read about VanLeunenhoek in a non-science text before so that was exciting for me.

Such a lovely book, that I feel fans and non-fans of MacDonald will love!

I read Fall on Your Knees in High School as a part of a literature circle and I'll never forget how much we all loved it. Anyone who enjoyed that book will likely enjoy Fayne as well. It' long but incredibly propulsive and tender. I recommend switching back and forth between reading and audio as the narration by Anne-Marie MacDonald is superb.

I loved this book. It was probably one of my favourite books I read this year. It was long but not tedious. I found it interesting throughout. I was surprised at some of the revelations and the path it took. The characters were sympathetic in my opinion. I could relate to each of them in different ways. Ann Marie McDonald is a fabulous writer and I love all the works of hers that I have read. I loved the atmospheric setting the historic aspects and the character of Charlotte /Charles. This book addresses moral themes of acceptance, love, identity and the power of self belief. It drew me in and made me feel the emotions of the characters and the world they inhabited.

Another amazing offering from Anne Marie MacDonald. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this in advance - MacDonald never disappoints!

RATING: 4 STARS
2022; Penguin Random House Canada/Knopf Canada

I started Fayne before bed on New Year's Day, and just finished it now January 2. I mention this as this book is 31 hours (700-something pages). Yesterday, I tried to spend any time I could listening to this engrossing novel. This morning as I was doing some non-day job work, I decided to spend the day with, or is it in, Fayne. MacDonald delivered with this epic gorgeous story. Fayne is a difficult novel to explain other than to say it is a historical fiction that has you abandoning on guessing what will come next and just enjoy the very deliciously descriptive novel. It has this eeriness like a gothic novel, that provided a bit of suspense, even when you know what's happening. I was on the fence with Charlotte, the protagonist, as she could be tiresome but I was completely invested in her and her story - as well as the others in the novel. The characters were so realistic, at times I felt genuine affection or dislike with them. You know it's a good story when I start talking back to the book. There was a character I was empathizing with, but then soon find out they were self serving, and felt betrayal. I am definitely a dramatic reader. I would recommend if you read this one, you have a weekend free as it's one that I think will transport you. There is so much I want to say about this novel, but are spoilers, so if anyone wants to chat about this, let me know.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

Unfortunately this book was not for me :( I absolutely love AMM and all her writing, so I was very excited for this book, but it was so different than all her other work. I found it very hard to get into and did not end up finishing.

3.5 stars. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC though I read the book itself because the ARC wouldn't download for me.

This book is a big, slow burn, but whenever I sat down long enough to read a big chunk I fell under its spell. At times, I spoke out loud, angry at how the main characters were being treated and fascinated by how much (and how little) changes in 130 years. If nothing else, this makes me want to get to the British Isles some day to see the landscape that is its own character in this novel.

Set in Edinburgh and in the Scottish countryside, on an estate situated on a section of “disputed” border between Scotland and England, this big, compelling novel about a young woman and damning family secrets kept me reading late into the night.

It was so easy to get lost in this story of fortune-hunting, marriage, heir-getting, women labelled mad and incarcerated on the flimsiest of excuses, foggy moors and bogs, myths and legends, and identity….for fear of spoiling this story about the magnetic main character Charlotte, I won’t give anything else away.

The massive book grabbed from its opening, and pulled me along, desperate to know what would happen next to the irresistible characters, none more so than the irrepressible, ebullient and ever curious Charlotte, whom I fell in love with immediately.

This was such an entertaining book!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Absolutely gorgeous. Not what I expected, but I never have a bad time when I pick up a book by Ann-Marie MacDonald. She has solidified herself as one of my favourite authors since Fall on Your Knees. The language is difficult, it takes you a moment to warm up to it and for those who are expecting the tumultuous family dynamics of Fall on your Knees... this is not it.

However, all the beauty is there both in the prose and in some of the characters themselves. It's so easy to let yourself get drawn into the world that Ann-Marie MacDonald lays out for us. Close your eyes and let yourself be transported to another world with one of the best reads of 2022.

Not even halfway through the book, I made sure to buy my copy. It's gorgeous and sweeping and hits all the right notes.

Engaging story set in the late 1800s, mostly in Edinburgh and on a Scottish/English estate, Fayne. Fayne exists in “disputed counties” on the borderlands between England and Scotland, and the title of the Baron whose seat it is is 450 years old. This condition of not being one thing or the other is a metaphor for so much else in the novel. I always do my best to avoid spoilers so I won’t give away key plot points, in order to preserve the sense of discovery and excitement—the “aha!” moments—I experienced while reading. This novel is 700-plus pages, a lot of room to pack in a whole heaping helping of highly operatic doings. To name a few, we have deaths by drowning in the bogs surrounding Fayne, madwomen being put away in terrible places, illegitimate children, a baron of the lineage being put away for having a tail, drug addiction—and I’ve avoided mentioning some of the biggies! It slowed down a bit somewhere in the middle for me but soon picked up again and galloped along to the finish.

This book is a gift. A love letter to humans, animals and the land they inhabit. It is captivating and spell binding.

Charlotte Bell, daughter of widower Lord Henry Bell, has had a privileged yet sheltered upbringing at a manor in the DC of Fayne, a large plot of land ambiguously located between England and Scotland. Her mother died while giving birth to her, and her older brother is also deceased. Charlotte is isolated from others due to a ‘condition’ which isn’t clear at the beginning of the story.

Identity, connection, found family, and stewardship are all wrapped up together in the mystery, the mist, and the bog that surrounds Fayne. It enthralled me completely. The less revealed, the better. All 722 pages of this book kept this reader engaged and entertained. That is no easy feat.

I give this book five stars. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Penguin Random House, Knopf Canada and Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Good book, a bit long and dragging at bits. I don't think this is a book for everyone. I thought it was perfectly fine.

I tried this book twice. it's for my Canadian author project but it is too long. I finally DNF it at 25%.
It's not a bad book or the writing style or something, and i am still interesting the story setting. i will give it another chance for sure, maybe beginning of 2023