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The Book of Essie

A Novel

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The Book of Essie

Written by: Meghan MacLean Weir
Narrated by: Robbie Daymond, Tara Sands, Erin Spencer
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About this listen

Finalist for the 2018 New England Book Award

"Both timelessly beautiful and unbelievably timely." (Chris Bohjalian, New York Times best-selling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant)

A captivating novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the story of the 17-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family's hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart.

Esther Ann Hicks - Essie - is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage - and a ratings-blockbuster wedding?

Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media - through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell - Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Whom can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?

©2018 Meghan MacLean Weir (P)2018 Random House Audio
Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Pregnancy
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What the critics say

“I was immediately captivated by The Book of Essie, a unique and moving story about a young woman whose life has been hijacked by fame, family and faith - and her spectacular, surprising plot to take it back.” (Vanessa Diffenbaugh, best-selling author of The Language of Flowers and We Never Asked for Wings)

"A resourceful, resilient teen heroine is at the heart of Meghan MacLean Weir's propulsive debut novel... Weir is also adept at using the language of evangelical life, lending an authenticity that takes the book beyond a Duggar-family pastiche. The tentative trust that grows between Essie and Roarke gives The Book of Essie emotional depth, and the questions at its center have a surprising moral weight. Readers will root for Essie through every twist and turn of her story." (Trisha Ping, BookPage)

"The youngest daughter of an Evangelical preacher-turned-reality TV star hatches a plan to wrangle her freedom - and expose the dark truth about her family - in Weir's debut novel... Deeply sympathetic...well-paced...and the unexpected tenderness between Essie and Roarke gives the novel genuine emotional punch." (Kirkus)

What listeners say about The Book of Essie

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