Lucy Burns works as a facilitator, leading unredeemable sinners to hell. And the working conditions aren’t the greatest. Sure she gets a wish fulfilled every birthday and can eat all the chocolate she wants without gaining weight, but she can’t see her family, have a boyfriend, or live any kind of normal life. She’d love to quit, but she doesn’t know how - until a fellow facilitator tells her about a little-known loophole…This is a really clever, quirky read with a well thought-out mythology and an appealing protagonist. While it does feel a bit on the short side – I would’ve liked to see her “at work” a bit more and seen more interaction with her sister Ellen (the heart of the story) – it covers all the important points to make the story resonate on both a purely enjoyable level as well as a deeper, more thought-provoking level.
My only minor quibble: I didn’t really think it was necessary to make Lucy’s love interest blind. I kept asking myself for example how as a creative writing professor he was able to read his students’ writing and write his own novel (included excerpts of which also seemed superfluous in such a short novella).
THE SINFUL LIFE OF LUCY BURNS is out in hardcover now. Find out more about the book and download the first chapter at the publisher's website.
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