The Muse by Jessie Burton

Format: Audio (BorrowBox)

Read: May 2023

I downloaded it from BorrowBox on a whim and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to! As usual I had to have it on 1.5x speed, and I found the narrator (a few dodgy accents aside) was very good.

What I liked –

• Engaging, complex characters from a broad range of different racial, national, political and economic backgrounds.
• Odell has a distinct voice (though perhaps the narrator helped out there). I really liked her point of view of an immigrant from the colonies (Trinidad) who finds herself disappointed in the drizzly everyday reality of life in 1967 London.
• I wish I could see the paintings IRL because they sound amazing!
• Interesting exploration of creativity, ownership, and where inspiration comes from.
• I like the twist, it did surprise me!
• The story had many dramatic events that take place in the past but remains fairly low key, dare I say calm, in the ‘present’ timeline. I felt it had a dreamlike quality to it that I appreciated.
• The writing! Jessie Burton does use poetic language but its just right for me, and especially because Odell is a writer and Olivia is an artist it is fitting.

It’s not five stars because –

• I found it is slow in places, especially the first half.
• As a reader I was disappointed Odell didn’t get to hear directly from Quick on her secrets, and I found that was a bit unsatisfying but then I also understand within the story why I didn’t get that scene!

Highly recommend this one, and I’ll be checking out more Jessie Burton!

The Muse on Amazon.

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