The Woman in the Library

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The way she processed everything through the lens of an author, plotting connections and possibilities as if it were a novel she’s writing was great. My agent will tell you it's a story about passionate friendships and reluctant relationships in modern America, but really it's a romance. A best-selling novelist in Australia named Hannah is writing a new book – and for the most part, what we are reading, are scenes from the novel she is writing, which involve a novelist from Australia, writing a book! He suggests she use hoodies to help readers realize Cain is Black and to include masks in her narrative.

I found myself frustrated at first with the plot within the plot as I was having a tough time following it. While crafting this new thriller, Hannah shares each chapter with her biggest fan and aspirational novelist, Leo.It is as though Hannah is mining her story from this other individual (Leo in the letters, not Leo in the “story”) which prompts him to obsess over her, then he takes it too far, and those stakes are played over the dynamics of the murder that is the focus of Gentill’s book. And he’s chuffed that Hannah uses some of his suggestions, or indeed some of his observations, in her novel. The narrative is in the form of draft chapters written by Hannah Tigone interspersed with her correspondence with Leo. And he tried to shoehorn himself into her relationship, declaring Cain no good and trying to sow seeds of doubt.

Sheila Liming explores the connection between libraries and self-making in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American culture, from the 1860s to the 1930s, focusing on Edith Wharton and her remarkable collection of books. It also ends rather abruptly, and with there being two characters named ‘Leo’ but who each work in different ways towards the two plots, the ending really left me adrift. We know that Letters-Leo consciously imitated Book-Leo with the cupcakes, and that Letters-Leo also said he’d do anything for Hannah… So, was the point that Book-Leo was the better version for Freddie?The author writing to a person helping her with setting the story ends up becoming the darkest twist and really makes this book stand out from the usual crowd. Freddy is writing a book and she decides to incorporate these three people into her book, a sort of writing what she sees. It’s clever and absorbing, and I love it when an author does something innovative with their narrative like this. Our “main character” in the book within the book is Winifred (Freddie), who has a writing residency or scholarship in Boston, which comes with accomodation and presumably a stipend.

The house where she lives contains several flats, one of them occupied by another fellowship recipient, a character whom Hannah names Leo Johnson. This quartet have very little in common other than they were in the same place at the same time but without the scream of a connection, they would have remained strangers me thinks. One day she’s in the reading room with some others – including three people she has given nicknames to, based on their appearances: Handsome Man, Heroic Chin and Freud Girl.It’s one of those novels you have to read it to believe it and I’m pretty confident you’ll also feel the same way that it’s an eccentric yet exciting read from beginning to end.

Her tenth Sinclair novel, A Testament of Character, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel in 2021. The Woman in the Library] is a mystery-within-a-mystery, with the clues in Freddie's story becoming more intriguing as Leo's advice becomes more sinister. Hannah Tigone is an Australian author living in Sydney, writing about another Australian author Freddie (Winifred), recipient of a fellowship which has her living in Boston for a year. When they arrive at Whit’s house to confront Marigold and save Whit from her, Whit shoots Cain and confesses that he was responsible for Caroline and Boo’s death.The Woman in the Library is an unexpectantly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship – and shows that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all. As the pandemic in the United States worsens, he begins to send gruesome photos that indicate he may be committing crimes himself. There are several events and situations here that flirt a bit with horror, my favorite reading genre.