Last Saturday’s read-a-thon had me browsing my shelves and my Kindle for books to read. Since I was signed up to cheer I knew I wouldn’t do much reading so I picked this book knowing I likely wouldn’t finish it. I didn’t finish it during the read-a-thon but I am so glad I picked it up! I purchased it years ago (likely with a gift card) and it sat on my shelf mocking me ever since. I remember reading the blurb and thinking that it sounded interesting. I also liked the colors of the cover (likely, the reason I picked up the book in the first place).

The story is a complicated one. Our protagonist receives a letter from a well known and prolific author requesting that she write her autobiography. Vida Winter is a mysterious woman, having fed lies about her life to reporters for years. She’s finally ready to tell the truth and Margaret is the person she chose for the task. The story itself, the plot, was very engaging. I enjoyed the journey to finding out the sordid, yet fascinating life of Vida Winter. She is a mystery being unwound.

There were things I didn’t care for such as the much repeated descriptor of women as plain. There was also a lot of hot, sweet tea and Jane Eyre references. I almost wanted to tell the author, I get it! Regardless, it was a book I very much enjoyed. I won’t go into much more detail about it because I don’t want to give anything away and this is a book that I find difficult to talk about without potentially letting some plot point slip. At 406 pages it’s a pretty long read.