The Saucy Wenches Book Club

Butterflies live short lives because they have mastered the art of living. They serve to pass it on with luminous bursts of joy, bright flickers from the other side.
~ Kira Jane Buxton, Hollow Kingdom

That’s what the school did to a boy. It didn’t stop when you got out. Bend you all kind of ways until you were unfit for straight life, good and twisted by the time you left. [snip]

They’d always be on the lam, no matter how they got out of that school.
~ Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

If a friend lied to me
the way I lie to myself,
I’d say,
‘you’re a shitty friend’.
~ Taylor Jenkins Reid,
Daisy Jones & the Six

Someone has been tortured on my behalf. Someone has been tortured on your behalf. Someone in this world will always be suffering on your behalf. If it comes your time to suffer, just remember. Someone suffered for you. That is what taking on a cloak of human flesh is all about, the willingness to hurt for another human being.
~ Louise Erdrich,
Future Home of the Living God

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a delectable tale of ambition and courage, true love, and the price of fame. The more I think about this book, the more it reveals to me its hidden gems, the more I realize how much greater it is than the sum of its parts, and the more I miss Evelyn Hugo.

Writing books that are deceptively richer than they appear seems to be a real strength of this author. Along with creating characters, particularly celebrities, that you’d swear are real. And writing a story far more captivating and unforgettable than the one you expect.

Now that I’ve fallen in love with another Taylor Jenkins Reid character (I wrote about others here), I want to meet more! I’ve already got my eyes on her previous book, One True Loves.

But before succumbing to its charms, I’d like to bask a bit longer in the glow of the mesmerizing Evelyn Hugo by telling you about her.
Seven husbands. Which one did she love best? Which one was the real one?

“What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.”

~ Neil Gaiman, American Gods