Nothing sets high expectations quite like one of your favourite authors saying they’ll release the book that’s haunted them for the past decade, waiting for the right time to be told – the book that may be their legacy if all else were to disappear. I’ve been a fan of V.E. Schwab for a long time – from adult fantasty of other worlds consumed by magic, to young adult stories where people’s actions breed monsters, to children’s stories of the veil between worlds. Not once throughout it all has Schwab ever let me down, so I knew whatever else was to come could only ever steal my breath away.
I can’t quite believe just how right I was.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the story of a young woman in rural 19th century France who enters a faustian bargain in an attempt to leave behind the unremarkable life others have planned for her for the chance to pave a path of her choosing. The only catch? Everyone who lays eyes on Addie is bound to forget her as soon as she is out of sight.
Spanning over centuries and continents, this book will capture you from start to finish, breaking your heart and putting it back together all at once. Haunting and sometimes melancholy, this book is full of stubborn hope, of longing and yearning, of gripping life as tightly as you can and refusing to let go. The ending is bittersweet, yet perfect and I’d be shocked if it didn’t leave every single reader weeping softly as their heart is telling them to go back to the beginning and experience the story all over again.
One may say that everyone who lays eyes on this young woman is bound to forget her, but I can guarantee you that once you’ll meet her, you, too, will remember Addie for a long time …
