When the season of quarantine began, roughly around mid-March, I kept falling into the routine of watching television and eating all hours of the day. So, I told myself that I needed to find something to do for at least a few hours every day. I finally got around to cleaning, baking, and when I was finished with all of that, reading. One of the first books on my shelf that I had been meaning to read had been sitting there for quite some time. Every time I passed my bookshelf, a little voice in my head would tell me to pick it up and start flipping pages. So, I finally did.
The book was titled, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, and it could not have been more up my alley. It was given to me last Christmas and I have done nothing but make excuses to not read it such as lack of time, it was too long, and most of all it’s a pretty hefty book with lots of pages to flip. When I finally gave in and began reading it, the emotions and feelings of the written words were able to be physically felt while reading. The way Ruth Ware, the book’s author, had described each setting and scene was somewhat mystic, in a way I felt I was also there within the pages myself. The very first scene I vividly remember reading about was when the main character, Hal, is on her way back home from working a tarot card stand on the pier. I was able to feel the ocean’s salty air and the rain hitting my skin as If i were walking arm to arm with Hal. I could smell the pier’s food, feel the wind, and see the sun setting behind the clouds.
Ruth Ware does this in most of the novels she writes. She is one of the few authors who can encapsulate the raw emotions of which words can give readers. Not many authors do too well of a job with descriptive scenes to the point of allowing readers to connect to the book in a more intimate manner, but Ware has a special way with words.
As I made my way digging deeper into the pages of this novel, I found myself completely immersed within the story itself. I was obsessed with the characters and their backgrounds, as Ware also has a way of keeping that a secret before getting to know the characters too well towards the end of the book. She kept identities shielded, which as a reader, made me want to keep reading to find out who these people were and figure out how they were initially connected to the story in its entirety. I can confidently say that this book was one I could not peel my eyes and hands away from for a good while, which led to me finishing it within three days.
If you enjoy the books with personality and mystery between their pages, I highly suggest not only reading The Death of Mrs. Westaway, But Ruth Ware’s other novels as well. This is an author you won’t forget about.