The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor
I picked up The Miseducation of Evie Epworth in Sainsbury’s a couple of months ago, because I was looking for some lighter books to read for summer. I liked the cover and I remembered seeing some positive reviews of it a few months ago.
It is 1962 and 16 year old Yorkshire lass, Evie Epworth, has just finished her O Levels. Now she must decide what she wants to be and where she wants to go with her life. Evie plans to do her A Levels, but the women around her think it’s pointless getting an education. She dreams of being a glamorous and independent woman, but her soon to be stepmother, Christine, gets her a job at the local salon.
Her widowed father, Arthur, adores her, but he is busy with the farm, leaving Christine increasingly responsible for Evie’s guidance. Christine is brash, nasty and lazy, with a wardrobe full of pink. Everything Evie dislikes. Instead, she spends hours with her neighbour, Mrs Scott-Pymm, who is in her late 60s.
Mrs Scott-Pymm believes in Evie and encourages her to follow her dreams. She even tries to help her get rid of Christine. And when she can’t talk to Mrs Scott-Pymm, Evie discusses life with her two Adam Faith posters – brooding Adam and sophisticated Adam.
The Miseducation of Evie Epworth is both fun and funny. It paints a glorious picture of 1960s Yorkshire and the characters who lived there. Evie herself is a wonderful character, who is just a little ahead of her time for a 1960s farm girl.
The story is narrated by Evie and most of the action takes place over a short period of time in the summer of 1962. There are also flashbacks to the earlier life of Arthur, Evie’s mother and Mrs Scott-Pymm.
I realise I haven’t read many books set in the early 60s. The books I read tend to be either set before World War 2 or be far more contemporary. It is an interesting time, as Christine is acquiring for the house a lot of the ‘modern’ things that we all take for granted, making it feel both contemporary and quite old fashioned.
If you are looking for an easy and humorous read, I would definitely recommend The Miseducation of Evie Epworth. I will be saving it for my daughter to read, as I’m sure she will love it.
Sarah,
An interesting review of a book that I hadn’t heard of until now.
“Evie plans to do her A Levels, but the women around her think it’s pointless getting an education.” This reminds me of P, a man I met in the summer of 1972. He’d attended a grammar-school in the north-east of England. Several of his classmates wanted to do A-levels and then go to university, but their fathers told them: “You’re dreaming, son. People like us don’t do that kind of thing.” So those boys left school after taking O-levels. That would have been circa 1965. Fortunately, P managed to persuade his parents to let him stay on at school, and by the time I met him he was two years into a postgraduate course.
IIRC, in the summer of 1962 Adam Faith was a bit past the peak of his popularity as a pop-singer. On the other hand, it was during the latter half of 1962 that I was watching TV one teatime, and the female presenter announced: “On the programme next week, we’ve got a new group, the Beatles.” Regrettably, I never saw the following week’s programme.
That is very interesting about the A Levels. A similar thing happened to my dad. He’d planned to stay on at school, but then his parents found him a job at the local council. He went on to become a solicitor without ever going to university or getting a degree.
It’s interesting that you mention the Beatles, as Evie is introduced to them in the book and quickly becomes obsessed with them. She can’t even remember their name and just calls them the ‘four lads from Liverpool’.
I am so glad you enjoyed this as this has been one of my favourite books so far this year. It is such a gentle book but the story is so lovely and as you say, it tells us a lot about life at the time and how life has changed for women. I also hated the character of Christine with a passion.
I remember how much you loved the book and that was a big part of me choosing to read it.
Christine is such a horrible character!