Sixteen year-old Evie Epworth stands on the cusp of womanhood. But what kind of a woman will she become?
The fastest milk bottle-delivery girl in East Yorkshire, Evie is tall as a tree and hot as the desert sand. She dreams of an independent life lived under the bright lights of London (or Leeds). The two posters of Adam Faith on her bedroom wall ('brooding Adam' and 'sophisticated Adam') offer wise counsel about a future beyond rural East Yorkshire. Her role models are Charlotte Bronte, Shirley MacLaine and the Queen. But, before she can decide on a career, she must first deal with the malign presence of her future step-mother, the manipulative and money-grubbing Christine.
If Evie can rescue her bereaved father, Arthur, from Christine's pink and over-perfumed clutches, and save the farmhouse from being sold off then maybe she can move on with her own life and finally work out exactly who it is she is meant to be.
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[I am the wind]***
(@ScribnerUK, 23 July 2020, 405 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 24 June via #RandomThingsTours)
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I'd never heard of the author before and the book sounded a lot of fun so I was looking forward to it. I knew I was going to enjoy myself when I'd laughed myself to tears and stomach pains only a few pages in. Evie is the narrator. I'm a big fan of first person narration when it work and it certainly does in this book. Evie is wry and funny and insightful and her snide remarks and sarcastic insights had me laughing fit to burst. There is a darker side to the book as well around Christine shoe-horning her way into their lives and trying to use her dubious charms to turn Arthur's head. There are flashbacks giving insight into the marriage of Evie's father and deceased mother and some heart-breaking memories of her death. I had such a good time with this book.
