The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Review

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the first of Reid’s historical fiction novels that explores Hollywood in the 1950s to the 1980s. The story starts with Evelyn Hugo who is now an old woman choosing an unknown journalist for her tell-all interview.

Hugo is portrayed as the most glamorous sought-after actress of her day with a complex love life. Reid told Vogue that Hugo is inspired by a trio of famous movie stars: Elizabeth Taylor (who had seven husbands), Ava Gardner (who did a similar tell all later in life), and Rita Hayworth (who essentially had to scrub her Spanish background in order to be successful in Hollywood).

The book offers a glimpse of what it took for a woman to have success in Hollywood in those days and the image they were expected to portray, among many other themes. Reid does an amazing job of bringing these complex characters and relationships to life.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is hands down Reid’s most successful book with more than a million copies sold, more than 150,000 reviews on Amazon and 1.9 million reviews on Goodreads.