So elegantly written I became enraptured in the experience. Felt like I was in the middle of a classic american movie. The details of the time period mixed with the radiant queerness was so engrossing. All the kudos to Isa Arsén.

Thank you to Penguin Publishing Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Margaret and Westley travel to the desert to perform Shakespeare, they become involved with a man who is not who he appears to be.

First of all, thank you to the publisher for making this book available as an .epub! More detailed review TK but I read it in close to one sitting, and Arsén definitely continues to be a writer to watch.

I enjoyed SHOOT THE MOON by Isa Arsén so I was eager to get my hands on this e-galley, which did not disappoint.
Margaret and Wesley are Shakespearean actors spending their summer in the desert. The story is full of parties, drugs, affairs, and mobsters. It can get overwhelming at times, and there's almost a heavy-handed / claustrophobic feel to the prose which can get bogged down and does not necessarily invite the reader in. I don't think this is marketed to fans of "traditional" (ugh, I know, but I'm not sure what other word to use) historical fiction. This novel is a bit heavier and I guess more literary. But the plot can feel like a roller coaster at times, which does not necessarily fit with literary. I guess this type of genre bender is popular right now, and don't get me wrong, I DO believe this gorgeous novel will find its audience. It's a well-written dark historical with a strong sense of atmosphere and excellent character development.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

What a raw, gripping novel. This is SO MUCH MORE than what I thought it would be and how it presents the first 20%. This book is filled with beautiful prose, a heart wrenching story and human error. It is SO Shakespearean to the point of pure irony and I love that. For a debut novel, this one is gold.

4.5 rounded up for this wonderful and deeply theatrical historical fiction! This was messy, dramatic, incredibly queer, and totally unputdownable.

It follows the titular main character as she and her husband become entangled with a charismatic, compelling man during a trip to the desert to perform Shakespeare. The plot points sometimes felt a little on the side of unbelievable, but I think they worked really well in context of the drama-steeped world of the book.

The queerness of the cast and their relationships was absolutely delicious, especially the relationship between the main character and her husband, and there is so much queer tenderness and intimacy, of every variety, throughout.

I read this right after checking off a bucket list theatre role for myself, and it was really perfect timing. Highly recommended!

Isa Arsen's "The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf" is a haunting and atmospheric tale that blends historical fiction with elements of suspense and psychological intrigue. Set in Victorian England, the novel follows Margaret Wolf, a woman with a mysterious past and a penchant for unconventional behavior.

The narrative unfolds through dual timelines, alternating between Margaret's present-day struggles and flashbacks to her tumultuous childhood. Arsen masterfully weaves together these threads, gradually unraveling the secrets that have shaped Margaret's identity and her tumultuous relationships.

The strength of the novel lies in its atmospheric prose and vivid depiction of Victorian society's constraints and expectations. Arsen's writing is evocative, transporting readers to a world of opulent ballrooms and dark, shadowy secrets. The characters, particularly Margaret with her enigmatic persona, are compelling and well-drawn, keeping the reader engaged until the final revelation.

"The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf" is a captivating read for those who enjoy historical fiction infused with suspense and psychological depth. Isa Arsen demonstrates a keen ability to blend intricate storytelling with rich historical detail, creating a novel that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned.

This seems like a very good novel. Unfortunately, the formatting is so messed up that it causes way too much distraction. That being said, what I was able to read was pretty fascinating. Once it is available, I will borrow it from the library.

This atmospheric novel is a slow-burn of mental manipulation and the strength it takes to rally back. Not your usual mid-century fiction, but riveting nonetheless.

I’m a huge fan of this time period, so I was so excited to get an early copy of this book. The writing in this one was gorgeous, and the author did such a wonderful job getting into the feel of the '50s. I was very impressed with the character descriptions and all their flaws and imperfections.

Times change. People don’t.

A story about a different time with themes common to our world today. Margaret and Wesley are the best of friends and love each other immensely but have a non traditional marriage. Both Shakespearean actors, they have their quirks. After a breakdown, the doctor prescribes medication for Margaret. When Wesley is offered a position at a production in the desert, Margaret decides to go too. Maybe a change of scenery will help. A summer of affairs, drugs, parties, and mobsters follows. How does it end?

Frankly written. Full of elegant suspense. Definitely recommend!

The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf feels like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but pales in comparison in many ways but I can say that Isa Arsén is an author to watch because of her storytelling and character development.

The writing was incredibly descriptive. Even though I've never been in a room with a furnace, I could almost feel how creepy it might be. I was also reading in a Transatlantic accent, which, to me, enhanced every conversation. I love Margaret; she is a lovable, eccentric main character. The characters are so well written. I'll be thinking about this book for a while!

As a big fan of Shakespeare I thought I would absolutely love this book. It seems many can't put it down, but I found it rather difficult to get invested in the characters. It took me much longer than usual to find my way through the book, and though some of the writing was absolutely beautiful, I did feel like it was overall verbose. I can't stop thinking about the description "a nothing place," though, I love it. I know many nothing places. The book overall really carried the feeling of the era, and I do appreciate that.

Great read! Characters were flawed and so lovable. Love the attention to detail in the time period as well.

Make no mistake about it. The New York actors in this novel performing Shakespearean tragedies are participants in a real-life tragedy themselves.

Born into a dysfunctional situation in Kentucky, Margaret Wolf vents her frustration by becoming an actress, preferably portraying Lady MacBeth while using drugs.

She and her husband decide to travel with their company to New Mexico performing summer stock where Margaret meets the costume designer and tailor, Felix Haas. Making no other friends, Margaret and Wesley fall victim to the people who run the summer stock. With their backs to the wall, they take their revenge.

The character development is excellent. There is a Manichean struggle inside each character which is surprising to discover as the story unfolds. It makes each character sympathetic to the reader.

The novel reaches a chilling conclusion. The denouement begs the question, if surviving a tragedy makes you stronger in a sinister fight to devour or be devoured, what will you be capable of doing in the following act?

I wish to thank NetGalley and G. P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC of this book.

I love anything that talks about Shakespeare, no matter how big or small. This was a great read I just couldn't put the book down.

Wow, what a ride! I couldn’t put this book down! It is a rollercoaster of emotions that leaves you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page.

I applaud the writing and descriptive text.

The subject matter was hard for me to get into and this book wasn't for me, as a result.

It had a similar vibe and style to "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid which is what kept me going, especially as the mid-century time period interests me.

For fans of that book, I could see them enjoying this one.

Have a warning about self-harm being a theme would be good too.

Received an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. Thank you!

For all my earlier-in-life lukewarmness to Shakespeare, advanced age has brought greater appreciation of the Bard's plays, and perhaps none so much as “Macbeth,” which made me especially interested in reading Isa Arsen's “The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf,” in which the titular character is a Shakespearean actor with an abiding passion to play the Lady.
So taken, indeed, is she with the role, so much a part of her very being does she account it, that when she learns that the play is going to be her acting company’s next selection, she makes a special appeal for the role to the company’s director, who for all his rough manner toward his players readily acknowledges the rightness of the role for her: “it’s you, of course it’s you,” he tells her in giving her the role.
And indeed she brings the house down with her opening-night performance –”I’d become the Lady,” she thinks, “I would never feel so powerful again.” But along with the triumph comes the sobering realization that on the personal front, where the scars on her arms bear testimony to the wreckage of her own life, she’ll never be so in control as she is in the role, a realization so devastating that she slits her wrists in her dressing room after the performance.
Which, for all the dramaticness of the act, leaves some doubt what she’d actually intended –“I don't know,” she answers a female friend’s question as to exactly what happened – but it makes for a bloody enough scene that it thoroughly shakes the male actor, Wesley, who accompanies her to the hospital and who is as close a friend as she has. Close enough is he, indeed, that he gets her to marry him even though he's gay in an effort to ward off unwelcome attention from the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Even with his support, though, and that of the female friend, it’s not enough to take the sting out of the director replacing her as Lady Macbeth and even temporarily removing her from the company – a sort of probation, he says. She is able, though, to join the company as an observer as it stages a production of “Titus Andronicus“ in New Mexico.
It's there that the novel reaches its denouement with the introduction of a couple of truly unsavory characters, Felix, a driver with whom Margaret engages in drug-enhanced threesome sex with Wesley, and a truly scary character, Jesse, who will make for an especially frightening scene when Margaret comes upon him menacing a character tied to a chair.
For all the unsavoriness, though, that the western locale brings, including a murder as horrid as anything out of “Titus,” the novel was a bit tedious for me in its earlier stretches, and with Margaret’s behavior, it had me wondering, as I’ve wondered about other novels with such female characters, just how identifiable or relatable women readers would find Margaret. On the one hand, I’m remembering a female colleague to whom I once loaned Sara Davidson’s “Loose Change,” and she returned it with the exclamation “Loose change? Loose women!” and on the other hand I’m remembering a female reader who responded to a review of mine in which I raised the same sort of question about a similar female character in another novel and the reader said she related all too well to the character.
Nevertheless, Arsen’s novel resonated very much with me, especially with how it depicted a time and place of particular interest to me, the ‘50s, and how it evoked other works of special affection for me, including, with its thespianism, Robert Stone’s “Children of Light,” or, with its gay representation, the recent TV series, “Fellow Travelers,” or, with its diction, the fiction of Joan Didion or, with its picture of blacklisting, my favorite novel of that time, Ellen Feldman’s “The Unwitting.”