The Quick

To spoil or not to spoil.... 
I'll try to not.

On one hand I really enjoyed Lauren Owen's The Quick. Set in the late Victorian era, Lauren paints a beautifully detailed picture of the lonely life of James and Charlotte Norbury, two children left to their own devices due to a widowed father (traveling too much) and rotating governesses with too many other things to keep up with in the too large, too creepy estate.  Eventually the father dies, the children grow up, and life turns into a new normal. James goes off to London to become a man of letters... or a playwright, whatever works. Then... 

Here is where I'm trying not to spoil the big plot twist. But it's also the point where we get to the other hand. The part where I say, Wait... what?! I kept reading and although I truly enjoyed the book as a whole, there were many parts where I had to wade through thick oceans of detail that later didn't seem to mean anything anymore. New characters with heavy backstories that broke you heart but were not referred to again after only few chapters. It's worth the read. But be prepared for the journey. And a BIG plot twist... but not the twist you think it will be.. at first. (Yeah, it's like that.)