The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V.E. Schwab, 2020
Fantasy Science fictionContemporary fictionLiterary fiction
A girl who cannot be remembered makes a bargain with the dark—and then meets a boy who does. A lyrical, time-hopping story of memory and longing, with a romance that keeps the wonder close.
Feels like longing and wonder. About memory, identity and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy lyrical fantasy about memory, identity and longing, with a romance at its center. Its time-hopping, memory-centered narration can ask for patience in places.
Why read it
It offers an intimate fantasy about identity and the marks we leave on each other, and the central bargain gives the romance a sharp ache.
A page from the book
The difference between being remembered and being known.
Last night, she told him hers was Jess. She lied, but only because she can’t say her real name—one of the vicious little details tucked like nettles in the grass. Hidden barbs designed to sting. What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind? She has learned to step between the thorny weeds, but there are some cuts that cannot be avoided—a memory, a photograph, a name. V.E. Schwab.Schwab publishes YA fantasy as Victoria Schwab and adult fantasy as V.E. Schwab, writing across both names and readerships.
Books that feel like this
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Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy lyrical fantasy about memory, identity and longing, with a romance at its center. Its time-hopping, memory-centered narration can ask for patience in places.
- What is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue like?
- A lyrical, time-hopping story of memory and longing, with a romance that keeps the wonder close. Feels like longing and wonder. About memory, identity and love.
- What should I read after The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue?
- If you liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, try Defy Me (Tahereh Mafi), The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern) and The Midnight Library (Matt Haig).
A taste of the feed
The ordinary moment that makes all the fighting worth it.
I want to remember to celebrate more. I want to remember to experience more joy. I want to allow myself to be happy more frequently. I want to remember, forever, this look on Aaron’s face, as he’s bullied into blowing out his birthday candles for the very first time. This is, after all, what we’re fighting for, isn’t it? A second chance at joy.
Defy Me · Tahereh Mafi
The strangest letter a magician receives is pinned to a five-year-old.
The man billed as Prospero the Enchanter receives a fair amount of correspondence via the theater office, but this is the first envelope addressed to him that contains a suicide note, and it is also the first to arrive carefully pinned to the coat of a five-year-old girl.
The Night Circus · Erin Morgenstern
The gap between a mother's corrections and a stranger's kindness.
It was hard not to compare Mrs Elm to her mother, who treated Nora like a mistake in need of correction. For instance, when she was a baby her mother had been so worried Nora’s left ear stuck out more than her right that she’d used sticky tape to address the situation, then disguised it beneath a woollen bonnet.
The Midnight Library · Matt Haig
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