The year is 1714.  The night before her wedding, twenty-three year old Adeline LaRue should be excited to be wed to her betrothed.  Yet the opposite is the case; Addie can't accept the life she'll have to endure once she's married.  She wants a life beyond the small village of Villon-sur-Sarthe, she wants a freedom she won't have as a wife and mother.

Desperate for a way out, Addie reluctantly makes a deal with a demon.  The deal isn't without consequences.  While now immortal, everyone Addie meets will forget her the moment she leaves their sight.

Fast forward three hundred years to New York City. Addie has learned to live with her gift, and her curse. She survives by stealing and keeping residence in the homes of past lovers while they are away. The relationships she's held over the last three centuries are shallow; her lover never remembers her the next morning.  She is truly, totally, alone.

One day, Addie visits a bookstore to return a copy of The Odyssey she'd stolen just the previous day.  Addie's plan is thrown off course when the bookseller,  Henry Strauss, recognizes her. Addie is drawn to him, both desperate to keep her secret but also compelled to understand how this man is immune to her curse.  It turns out Henry has a secret of his own.  Theirs is a story worth remembering, one they will never forget.

 

This is one of those titles that crosses over so many genres, one that evokes so many feelings in its readers.  I’ve been shouting from the rooftops about this book since I finished reading it just a few days ago.

It’s rare lately, it seems, to find a book that truly transports you from the daily struggles of life.  Yet once I sat down with this book, it was hours later that I took a breath, looked up, and recalled the world around me.

Schwab builds Addie’s character slowly. She rushes nothing; we learn about Addie’s trials and tribulations, desperate to make a mark on the world only to be erased.  She’s escaped war, the plague, meets famous artists and writers.  Though no one remembers Addie, she recalls every experience and every relationship. A true punishment, to remember all those you have loved and lost.

A truly unique character is that of Luc, the demon Addie made the deal with so long ago.  He visits her on their anniversary each year. Her life will only come to an end once she surrenders her soul to him, a feat she resists year after year.  Their relationship is an interesting one, one full of tension and competition.

Schwab’s talent has no end; her books are all addictive and mesmerizing.  Yet there is something about this particular title that is pure magic.  I won’t ever forget that feeling I felt the first time I read this book; it’s an embodiment of the magic and hope I feel we should all find in books.  I can’t wait for others to feel, and share, that magic. Highly, highly recommended.