The Magpie by Elizabeth Day
Published: May 3, 2022
Simon & Schuster
Pages: 332
Genre: Psychological Fiction
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Elizabeth Day is an author, journalist, and broadcaster. Elizabeth is a columnist for You magazine on the Mail on Sunday and a feature writer for numerous publications in the UK and US, including The Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian, New York Magazine, the Observer, Vogue, Grazia, and Elle. She is a contributing editor for Harper’s Bazaar. Elizabeth grew up in Northern Ireland, and her first job was for The Derry Journal. She won a British Press Award in 2004 for Young Journalist of the Year and was Highly Commended as Feature Writer of the Year in 2013. She has a ginger cat called Huxley who approves this message.
Except—no one is truly perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly-familiar with Jake. But Marisa doesn’t let it concern her, knowing that soon Kate will be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby.
Conceiving a baby is easier said than done, though, and Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession—with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake?
In her quest to find out who Kate really is, Marisa might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create—her perfect romance, her perfect family, and her perfect self.
Jake doesn’t know the half of what Marisa has created—and what she stands to lose.
“Anger always wins.”
Marisa is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. Moving in with her dream partner, starting a family, and just being happy. Kate wants to start a family, and after years of trying with no success, she and her partner decide they will have a child via surrogate. They never expected things would get so chaotic.
I loved how this story was told. The narration was so well done. The storytelling was flawless! The twist is bananas and not at all what I thought it would be.
The characters were all well done, especially with how the story is told. You see such a complete picture of who everyone is, and it’s fantastic.
I like that this novel handled infertility with care and ease while accurately describing the emotions that come with the weight of being infertile. I found the whole situation respectfully and thoughtfully plotted.
This was a roller coaster ride of emotion, twists, and moments that make your jaw drop. I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing style was easy to read, and the story hooked me from the beginning.
I loved how the raw vulnerability was presented in all situations. This was a brilliantly crafted book, and I highly recommend it.