#BookReview The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd @ElleryLloyd @harperbooks #TheFinalActOfJulietteWilloughby #ElleryLloyd #HarperBooks Title: The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby

Author: Ellery Lloyd

Published by: Harper Books on Jun. 11, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Hardcover

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 9/10

Some women won’t be painted out of history . . .

Everybody knows that in 1938, runaway heiress artist Juliette Willoughby perished in an accidental studio fire in Paris, alongside her masterpiece Self Portrait As Sphinx.

Fifty years later, two Cambridge art history students are confounded when they stumble across proof that the fire was no accident but something more sinister. What they uncover threatens the very foundation of Juliette’s aristocratic family and revives rumors of the infamous curse that has haunted the Willoughbys for generations.

But what does their discovery mean? And how is it connected to a brutal murder in present-day Dubai?

A tale of love and madness, obsession and revenge, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby unravels the riddle posed by a Sphinx who refuses to reveal her secrets . . .


Review:

Unpredictable, tortuous, and layered!

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a captivating, suspenseful tale set in both Cambridge and Paris during 1938, 1991, as well as the present day, that sweeps you away and immerses you into the lives of two women; Caroline Cooper, a student of art history who at the urging of her mentor decides to include the notoriously lost painting of an artist whose life suddenly came to an end shortly after the only night it was ever exhibited, and Juliette Willoughby, a painter who perished with her lover in a fire soon after completing a famous piece of sphinx surrealism.

The prose is rich and lyrical. The main characters are inquisitive, determined, and resourceful. And the plot is a captivating, mysterious saga filled with life, loss, love, familial drama, heartbreak, secrets, lies, deception, moral dilemmas, Egyptology, sorrow, and tragedy.

Overall, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a well-written, exceptionally detailed, cunning puzzle by Lloyd that kept me intrigued from the very first page and is the perfect choice for anyone who loves historical fiction stories interwoven with compelling mysteries.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to Harper Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ellery Lloyd

Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK), and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich. They are the authors of People Like Her and The Club.