The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2017
Romance Memoir & biographyContemporary fictionHistorical fiction
A reclusive screen legend picks an unknown journalist to write her life story, and starts with the seven husbands. Evelyn's voice is dry, controlled and dishy by turns, and the decades slide past quickly even when the mood turns bitter.
About identity, freedom and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy old-Hollywood glamour, complicated marriages and a narrator who admits she is not kind. The invented magazine clippings and bylines between chapters can break the spell just as a scene gathers force.
Why read it
It is a fast, gossipy read that also asks who gets to shape a woman's story, and what she trades to keep control of it.
A page from the book
Watch how quickly a life gets summarised when someone else is writing.
Hugo has weathered her share of Hollywood scandals, not the least of which being her seven marriages, including her decades-long relationship with film producer Harry Cameron. The two Hollywood insiders shared a daughter, Connor Cameron, who is no doubt the influence for the auction. Ms. Cameron passed away last year from breast cancer soon after turning 41. Taylor Jenkins Reid.Reid frames Evelyn's memories with fictional magazine features, bylines and all — the settled print version of a life that the novel then takes apart.
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One family, one legendary Malibu party, and the marriage that made them: famous parents, and the children left holding the house.
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One CAPCOM, a shuttle crew she trained with, and a mission going wrong in real time — mission control procedure as a story about the people who talk each other through danger.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy old-Hollywood glamour, complicated marriages and a narrator who admits she is not kind. The invented magazine clippings and bylines between chapters can break the spell just as a scene gathers force.
- What is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo like?
- Evelyn's voice is dry, controlled and dishy by turns, and the decades slide past quickly even when the mood turns bitter. About identity, freedom and love.
- What should I read after The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?
- If you liked The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, try The Last Flight (Julie Clark), The Assassin's Blade (Sarah J. Maas) and Things We Never Got Over (Lucy Score).
A taste of the feed
The weight of being heard, in spaces meant to break you.
Dedicated to all the women who have come forward with their stories. Whether it be in front of a congressional panel on live television or alone in a windowless human resources office—we hear you. We believe you.
The Last Flight · Julie Clark
What people do with pain when they cannot put it down.
If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger.
The Assassin's Blade · Sarah J. Maas
When everything else is material, what is the one thing that truly matters?
You can have anything you want. A big church wedding. A backyard barbecue. A five-figure wedding dress. But I have one demand.” Of course it was a demand and not a request. “What’s that?” “I want daisies in your hair.
Things We Never Got Over · Lucy Score
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