The Muse by Jessie Burton - Book Review

Jessie Burton has published three books, they have all been on the Sunday Times Best Sellers, with The Muse reaching No. 1. This historical fiction has two storylines, one set in 1967 and the other one in 1936. Both storylines intertwined with one another, and one can’t be there without the other.  The novel starts in 1967 and set in the first person. We view the world from the eyes of Odelle Bastien, who enjoys writing and has gotten a new job at the Skelton Gallary in London, after working at a shoe shop for five years since arriving in England from Trinidad. She has gotten the job as a typist and works for the glamorous businesswoman, who always loves to have a smoke, Marjorie Quick.  As the weeks go on and Odelle meets new people and learns the nicks and tricks of her new workplace, a lost masterpiece is brought to the gallery and the truth about this piece is from 1936. We move even further back in time, but this time it is set in the third person. We meet Olivia Schloss, whose dad is an art dealer, and their family is now living in rural Spain. There we meet two new people, the siblings, Teresa and Isaac Robles, who have a major impact on Olivia.  Conflict arises and we learn how the characters from 1967 actually play a part in 1936. 

To be honest, this book is rated highly compared to the other books I have read this year, although it does not beat Stay With Me. Nevertheless, there are many elements of this book that I believe Jessie Burton has done wonderfully.  For example, it flowed very well in my opinion and I couldn’t put the book down. I could read seven or more chapters in one go and would only stop because I had to go somewhere or I needed to do work. The reason why it flowed so smoothly was that Burton’s description was done beautifully. You could visualise what was happening and how the scenery looked like as if you were watching it on television.  I really enjoyed how the storylines linked, there was no question whether or not the links were too far stretched, instead they were very realistic. Burton also showed when we were in 1967 or 1936 in a clever way, when set in 1967, it was the first person and chapters were named by using numbers, while in 1936, it was set in the third person and chapters were names by using the roman numeric.  As a writer myself, I feel I do pick up on twists quite easily and I can see what path an author is going down and how it could end. In this novel, I was certain about the twists, one of them I was correct about, however, the other one I was close but of course not close enough; which I loved.  Finally, I loved how at the end we came to understand why 1967 was written in the first person and 1936 was written in the third person. Odelle, who we know enjoys writing, writes the story of 1936, this can make us question how reliable the storyline of 1936 and what do we not actually know?

However, there is one area that I personally do not feel is right. We learn straight away that Odelle is a black woman, and while it is alright for a white author to have a protagonist who is black, I do believe writing in the first person as a black woman while the author is white isn’t correct. The reason I say this is because I am a white woman just like the author, and although we understand what it is like to be a woman we do not know how it is to be a black woman in today’s society and in the 60s. Burton writes about racism from Odelle’s point of view and it is rather uncomfortable because at the end of the day Burton doesn’t experience racism first-hand. I believe this novel would still have the same impact if it was all written in the third person, and writing in that point of view puts a distance between author and protagonist. 

Overall, I did really enjoy this novel and I believe Jessie Burton has the potential to be a fantastic author and I would love to read more of her books. Although I don’t feel it is right for Burton to write in first person as a black woman, I do believe that everyone needs a chance to learn and the way to learn is through making mistakes. Just like any writer, I know that I will probably do mistakes in my writing as that is a natural thing to do, all we must do is be opened to learn and do better.