I got this book from Netgalley years ago, and can't believe I waited so long to read it!

The slow-build of tension, with an undercurrent of something sinister reminded me of Burton's previous novel The Miniaturist. In both novels she vividly creates worlds I had limited knowledge of - in this case Spain in the 1930s, England in the 1950s for a recently arrived Trinidadian woman, and the world of art. The alternating structure drove the plot forward and enabled the really satisfying slow unravelling of the mystery of a painting, with a few misdirects along the way!

All of this made the book great to read, but The Muse is really about the female characters - Odelle, Quick, Olive and Teresa, female identity and talent and female friendships. Their stories will stay with me.

I liked the concept of the story being told from dual time frames, but unlike other books I've read in this format it just didn't deliver as well as I hoped it would. I adored The Miniaturist, but this book is very different in so many ways other than plot.

This book help interesting discussions such as, the view of women artists in the 30s, a glimpse of the Spanish Civil War, and also racial issues in the 60's England. So there's a lot for the author to explore and deliver on, but it turned out that the book just took too long to flesh out all of these details. As the story progresses, and the connections are made between the characters, it felt like a bit of a soap opera.

I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy this book but its not a memorable one for me.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

The Muse is set in two time frames; In the 1960’s, Odelle moves from Trinidad to London to pursue her dream of being a writer. She gets a job typing at an art gallery, working for an eccentric woman known as Quick. When she meets a man who possesses an unusual and haunting painting, she delves into the mystery of where the painting came from, who the painter was, and what happened to him. Back in time to 1936, Olive and her parents move to Spain where she becomes enamoured with a local young man Issac, who is a revolutionary and an artist. He agrees to paint a portrait of Olive and her mother as a surprise for her father, and this gesture leads to a whole lot of catastrophic events, and melds both time frames together.

As soon as I started reading The Muse I was captured by the writing. Usually historical fiction and I don’t get on very well, but I breezed through this book as if I had read it before. I enjoyed the jumps back and forth in time, each jump giving away bit by bit of the storyline until the final climactic chapters.

I must admit, the key twists were not lost on me, I picked them up quite quickly. However there was always still some doubt if my suspicions were correct throughout.

I loved all the twists and turns, drama and intrigue. There were a few times, especially in the 1930’s Spain setting, that it got slightly slow for me, but I think again that is my usual indifference to historical fiction coming through, rather than any fault of the writer.

Overall I really enjoyed the atmosphere, both the settings and I found the characters to be well written and engaging.

As with The Miniaturist, I thought this book was over-hyped and over-exalted. The characters were under-developed and poorly drawn caricatures, and I didn't feel comfortable with Jessie Burton writing the perspective of Odelle. The story was predictable, the characters unlikable and unrealistic, and there was little subtlety anywhere in the book.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me and I didn't continue reading for any significant time therefore, do not feel justified to comment.

It may have been just bad timing but I couldn't get into the style of writing.
Although I did not finish the book and don't feel justified to give feedback or a review I will still be able to recommend it to customers visiting our bookstore.
Thankyou for approving my request to read it as I have definitely been able to take something from it for referral purposes to customers.

Since half of this novel is set in Spain I decided to read it whilst holidaying there last summer, and then despite enjoying it, promptly forgot to review it... I found it a little slow at times, but it did stay with me and left a good impression, I remember it fairly well! I preferred the 1960s character Odelle, but found her storyline slightly unsatisfying and anticlimactic, whereas Olive wasn't as relatable but her story was much more interesting (not surprising I guess, since in her timeline there's conflict and war brewing). I liked it enough that I will at some point get round to reading Jessie Burton's first novel.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)