Hi, hello. I just finished reading this book and I had such a great experience I had to immediately run to a color coordinated backdrop to tell you all about it, as one does.
Loretta is a typical 27-year-old housewife and mother of two in 1955 suburban Missouri until, after a brief flu-like illness, she begins hearing voices and seeing visions. Initially Loretta is scared by these experiences, but eventually she considers them a divine gift of a sorts through which she blossoms and finds purpose assisting with criminal investigations, including that of a local teen who recently went missing. But Loretta’s controlling husband, an assistant professor at a Pentecostal bible college, will stop at nothing to keep Loretta right where he wants her.
The Devil and Mrs. Davenport is a delicious blend of mystery, gothic and paranormal horror, feminist empowerment, and even a hint of romance, all dressed with vintage flair. To my delightful surprise there is very clear Shirley Jackson influence at play here with the blend of paranormal meeting the very real and insidious nature of female oppression at midcentury, an unfortunately prescient reminder as we see our modern rights being stripped away as men work to put us back where they want us – we thought this was somewhere mid-20th century, but apparently it’s more like mid-19th century! Egads! What will these hornswogglers get up to next?!
I could nitpick a bit about some of the pacing and plot, but overall I had a great time reading and more people need to read this book!
That Bookish Life 