Oh this book is the perfect antidote to all of the horrendous things that seem to be on the news this year! Matson Taylor has crafted a wonderful set of characters and placed them around an incredibly likeable narrator, who needs to understand her past before she can progress to the future. As well as Evie herself, I loved Christine, Vera (Christine's mum) who were the comedy baddies, and elderly neighbour, Mrs Scott-Pym and her daughter Caroline. Evie had a special relationship with the Scott-Pyms, and Evie's influence on helping to mend bridges whist building her own was really rewarding. There was so much to adore in The Miseducation of Evie Epworth - it had warmth at its heart and the those witty and comical, side-splitting moments kept on coming. Matson Taylor doesn’t stop their though and he introduces us to a whole community to love. Mrs Scott-Pym was my favourite of the supporting characters. Her kind nature and motherly attitude towards Evie melted my heart. Evie had found a sanctuary in that house and you could feel the love between these two characters. As much as Evie helped Mrs Scott-Pym I also felt the older woman learnt a thing or two from Evie too. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is a brilliant comedic coming of age story. It is the debut novel from Matson Taylor, a Yorkshireman through and through with a deep love of food. So much so, the theme of food vividly runs through this delicious novel, beautifully enhancing everything about it – the story, the characters, the comedy. One of my friends loved this debut novel by Matson Taylor but it still took me months to get to it and I am so thankful I did. In fact, although I was keen for something light... a good psychological thriller about some murderous psychopath; from the opening lines of this novel I was transported into Evie's world. It's written in first person from 16 year old Evie's point of view and almost akin to stream-of-consciousness thinking. Taylor gives Evie a really delightful voice and this is a quirky and often-funny read. At the same time however, there are moments of poignancy, some of which come as a result of life experience and realising things young Evie does not.

Written as a diary from Evie's point of view, this is a wonderful coming of age story, intelligently and delightfully written, infused with humour and original and wonderful characters. As a 60s teenager growing up on a farm, Evie is fresh and naive with an unrestrained zest for life and a character to cheer on as she strives towards her future. Highly recommended!

Table of Contents

We then learn the reason she's flying on her milk-delivery round is because she's borrowed her father's pride and joy, his MG. Which she's not supposed to drive. And the reason she's borrowed it is because she and her friend celebrated their O levels by getting drunk on a mix of spirits Evie pilfered from her father's drinks cabinet the night before and she woke late and hungover for her milk-delivery. By the end I had tears of joy weeping down my face. To see all the women of the community gathered together for Evie was heart warming to say the least. Whilst she may not of had her mother there to support her she had every female role model possible to help guide and shape her into the woman she would become. Within the first chapter I was laughing out loud and grinning ear to ear and knew that Evie Epworth was going to be one of my new favourite characters. For those of you who know me, you will know that I have suffered with Bovinophobia* all my life and all I can say is that I am glad I didn’t see the cover before reading it as it would have definitely put me off.

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth tells the story of Evie, aged 16 and struggling to know what to do with her life. She lives in a small Yorkshire village with her Dad and awful Step-mother. However, Evie has some wonderful friends to give her a hand.

The most wonderful thing about this book is Evie's voice. Written by an adult male, I am in awe of how well he made me believe that I was reading the thoughts and words of a adolescent girl. On top of that, Evie is hilarious. She is sweet and caring but oh so very naive, yet weirdly astute despite her naivety. She cares deeply for her next door neighbour Mrs Scott-Pym, and as the book progresses she meets an array of characters who help her to figure out her identity, and the kind of woman she wants to grow up to be. It hasn’t helped my phobia, but it made me laugh and I know I won’t forget “that scene” in a long time. The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved The Miseducation of Evie Epworth – here are some of their comments:

Q. In the novel Evie is very much a tea drinker but she does try coffee for the first time. Nowadays do you think Evie would be drinking Yorkshire Tea? And do you imagine her very much still a tea lover or more a connoisseur of coffee?

When a certain nasty accident brings Caroline Scott-Pym home to their Yorkshire village, they discover an instant rapport, and Evie has an ally in her campaign to see off the cheating, lying gold-digger. Planning to buy The Miseducation of Evie Epworth for your group? Buy books from Hive and support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no extra cost to you. Warning! The following content will make you hungry and crave a visit to the legendry Bettys (a personal favourite Yorkshire haunt of mine). As we identified as fellow foodies, Matson very kindly gave me an interview focusing on the symbolic role food plays in the novel. He also reveals more about Evie’s character and her brilliant, quirky story.

So many books have inspired me, and still do, but probably the first one was The Hobbit. My favourite teacher, Mr Barton, gave it to me in my last year at primary school. I loved it and read it again and again. I loved how it built such a complete world, with all the different types of people and creatures and the made-up history, even the made-up maps printed on the endpapers! I felt very grown up too because it looked like a ‘real’ book rather than a school picture book and I was very proud when I took it home and showed it to mum. If you like your stories with a dose of fun, quirky and full of family dramas then The Miseducation Of Evie Epworth is for you. Aptly named ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ I just wish I’d had the experiences Evie did at her age with such wonderland and warm people - not Christine though - the buxom, pink babydoll wearing step mother to be!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. Selection panel review Is it a decision we can or do make, I wondered. Do we decide who we are or who we become, or is our destiny predetermined? How can we influence that? What a charming and delightful read this was! Full of laugh out loud moments as well as gentle humour as Evie Epworth navigates the minefields of finishing school and becoming a Woman. I’ve learnt that, even though I’m quite a chatty social person, I’m very good at spending time on my own working on a book. I love it. I can get caught up in a paragraph or even a sentence for hours and not realise what time it is – my brain goes off somewhere and something takes over. That’s such a great feeling. I’ve also learnt that I either need to get a higher chair or shorter legs. I loved this book, the writing flows so easily. It's almost as if the story was being told to you by a chatty friend. The stories are not farfetched, the trip to Beverly to a posh restaurant, you can visualise as if it happened to you. The characters are fantastic, each adding to the storyline. There's no trough in the middle, you ride the wave of Evies life from beginning to end.