The Undoing of Violet Claybourne by Emily Critchley

This wasn't quite what I was expecting which was actually a nice surprise.

My 2 Cents for Free!



The Undoing of Violet Claybourne by Emily Critchley

Released November 2024
Source: Library Audio
Get it at your local library or see more @ Goodreads

I picked this up from the library thinking it was a gothic mystery and, though it features a once fine manor that is in disrepair, it’s definitely a historical tale of friendship and tragedy and secrets that ultimately is mainly about young women who weren’t free to live their lives as they’d like due to their own mistakes and class wars but mostly because of the way society is set up to give young women very little agency in their own lives and then there's the fact that mental health issues continue to be woefully dismissed. Whew, that was a mouthful.

Fifteen-year-old Gillian befriends a friendless girl at the posh school she attends. She isn’t nearly as wealthy as the rest of her classmates and jumps at the chance to spend a holiday at her wealthier friend Violet’s huge manor. There she finds herself getting further and further entwined in a mess of secrets and terrible choices. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

The women and young women in this story run the gamut from terrible, self-centered, and snobbish to self-serving and incredibly weak willed. You probably won’t like any of them at one point or another. I know I didn’t. But I could not stop reading. The story was very compelling on audio and the narration kept me hooked.

I’d advise you to avoid the synopsis because it gives way too much away. It spills events that happen 40% in. I don’t know about you, but that’s considered a spoiler to me. It’s only slightly vague but not really and that made me a bit grrrrr.

If you love a book filled with secrets and historical details that is sad, infuriating and feels painfully accurate to the way people behave, this might be a good choice for you.



Snipped Publisher Plot Synopsis (because I feal it gives too much away)

To become a Claybourne girl, she'll have to betray one first.

1938. Gillian Larking, lonely and away at boarding school, is used to going unnoticed. But then she meets Violet Claybourne, her vibrant roommate who takes Gilly under her wing. Violet is unlike anyone Gilly has ever met, and she regales Gilly with tales of her grand family estate and her two elegant sisters. Gilly is soon entranced by stories of the Claybournes, so when Violet invites Gilly to meet her family at Thornleigh Hall, she can't believe her luck.

But Gilly soon finds that behind the grand façade of Thornleigh Hall, darkness lurks.

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