About the Book:

She has almost everything. The rest she’ll take.

Single White Female meets The Perfect Nanny in this taut, psychological suspense novel about a perfect couple and their seemingly perfect roommate—that is until she threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create.

Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple, and Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate–and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for a baby. Except no one is 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. Kate will soon 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. Magpie is a tense and twisting novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

 

My Review:

 

To read anything too in depth about ‘Magpie’ will give away the brilliant plot twist that occurs just about midway thought the book!

What began as a wonderful domestic thriller beautifully segues into themes of infertility and a woman’s role in society. Marisa is a 28 year old children’s book illustrator who has met her wonderful boyfriend named Jake, about 10 years older and keen to start a family. When Marisa becomes pregnant, they are both overjoyed. She had a difficult childhood and realizes how precious and beautiful her new family unit is.

”Marisa felt, with unexpected acuteness, the fragility of everything, the ease with which it could all be taken away from her.”

Jake and Marisa live together in his beautiful home, and she seems to have finally found the stability she has craved. Yes, Jake has an overbearing mother, but doesn’t everyone have some kind of family issue to deal with? Marisa is very happy with Jake and their stable life together. Things become a little more complicated when they decide to take in a lodger named Kate to help deal with some of the household expenses.

Kate is the opposite of Marisa: dark haired, glamorous and very confident. Marisa feels stirring emotions of insecurity but Jake is such a wonderful and stable partner that she overlooks certain incidents. Is she just being paranoid?

The amazing British actress Tanya Reynolds narrates the audiobook with intelligence and thoughtfulness.
She delivered the simple plot twist with perfection! Everything I assumed about this book was turned upside down.

The gripping narrative moves back and forth between the past and present, building towards a very surprising conclusion that I thought was handled with sensitivity and care. This was my first book by Elizabeth Day and I absolutely loved it!

Thank you so much to Simon & Shuster for my gifted ebook copy.