‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ was one of my books of 2021 – I couldn’t wait to see how Matson Taylor was going to follow up his impressive debut novel. Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this sequel in exchange for an honest review.
This novel picks up a way after the first one finished with 1960s Evie heading for London. She’s now 10 years older and living the high life in 1970s London – until a surprising and unfortunate incident involving Princess Anne ends her BBC career a little prematurely. Faced with a number of possibilities, Evie picks herself up and tries some different paths with the help of her friends.
As with the first novel, the period detail is beautifully done and weirdly nostalgic (even if you don’t really remember the 1970s that clearly first time around) – Taylor bombards us with the music, fashion, products, food and knick-knacks of the 1970s and it makes for a vibrant backdrop to Evie’s story.
Taylor’s trademark humour is also evident in bucketloads – not only the Princess Anne incident (I’m still blushing about that one!), but also in Evie’s distinctive voice as she narrates the story. Descriptions of people are particularly well done, with Evie differentiating between her colleagues (two men called Nick) as ‘with the collars’ and ‘stick up bum’, plus her skewering of colleague Griffin’s rather eccentric dress sense. There’s a lot of warmth in the telling of this story and some lovely people emerge from the pages as quirky, lively, engaging characters.
So is this a worthy sequel to ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’? Yes, in lots of ways. It absolutely channels the charm and warmth of the first novel, the gorgeous characterisation and the vivid period detail. There is so much to enjoy here and I’d recommend this without hesitation to anyone who wants to catch up with Evie ten years on.
My only niggle feels a bit unfair given the fact that Evie is ten years older and a lot more worldly – I kind of miss her naivety and her status as unreliable narrator in the first book (given the fact she doesn’t understand adult ways and motivations). In ‘All About Evie’, she’s a bit harder and has a string of failed relationships behind her (detailed in ‘fact file’ style inserts throughout the novel). It’s a totally accurate view of growing up and moving on, but I missed young Evie even as I knew she couldn’t be the same at 26 as she was at 16. I think I wanted the story of young Evie arriving in London – surely there’s a wealth of material there!
I’d recommend this to anyone who loved ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ and wants a second dose of the charm and quirk. However, if you haven’t met Evie yet, definitely start with book one and immerse yourself in her often joyful 1960s naivety.
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And here’s the affiliate link if you need to start with book one – definitely recommended!
Header photo by Kiryl Sharkouski on Unsplash.
