Apparently, I gave up blogging for April. Not coincidentally, that’s about the time I went down the rabbit hole of this reading list. Several books by Nicole Baart, Jessica Barry, Elizabeth Klehforth, and Annie Ward later I hadn’t really found one that matched Moriarty’s sense of humor. Instead they offered several weeks of page-turning suspense. Finally sated on murders and mayhem, I turned to the recommended reads page of my library.
Enter Benefit by Siobhan Phillips.
Laura has just lost her teaching job. A Henry James
scholar, she’s not hopeful other colleges will be lining up to hire her.
Instead, she spends her time reconnecting with those she spent two years with as
a Weatherfield Fellow at Oxford. Despite her participation in this prestigious
program, her daily life is hampered by imposter syndrome. In her mind, she never
measures up to her fellow fellows. Trying to be supportive, her friend Heather asks
her to write a history of the Weatherfield Foundation for the upcoming centennial
gala. As Laura researches the family who established the foundation, she dives
deeper into the nefarious world of the sugar trade, bringing to light the
tainted legacy that supported her ambitions.
Beautifully awkward, Phillips captures the interactions
between those who would rather be reading a book and everyone else. Having picked
up this book solely on the basis of its cover image, I found it an engaging
read despite its dearth of detectives.
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