The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

How it reads

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is fantasy (historical fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the historical past, told across two timelines. Its central concerns are love, identity and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 448 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.