Mrs. Engels: A Novel

by Gavin McCrea

Longlisted for The Guardian 2015 First Book Award

“Richly imagined.”—starred review, Publishers Weekly

“This is the best kind of historical fiction."—Lucy Scholes, The Independent

"Who knew reading about communists could be so much fun?"—starred review, Kirkus Reviews

Very little is known about Lizzie Burns, the illiterate Irishwoman and longtime lover of Frederick Engels, coauthor of The Communist Manifesto. In Gavin McCrea’s first novel, the unsung Lizzie is finally given a voice that won’t be forgotten.

Lizzie is a poor worker in the Manchester, England, mill that Frederick owns. When they move to London to be closer to Karl Marx and family, she must learn to navigate the complex landscapes of Victorian society. We are privy to Lizzie’s intimate, wry views on Marx and Engels’s mission to spur revolution among the working classes, and to her ambivalence toward her newly luxurious circumstances. Lizzie is haunted by her first love (a revolutionary Irishman), burdened by a sense of duty to right past mistakes, and torn between a desire for independence and the pragmatic need to be cared for.

Yet despite or because of their profound differences, Lizzie and Frederick remain drawn to each other in this complex, high-spirited love story.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Ireland, Contemporary, Adult Fiction

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Gavin McCrea was born in 1978 and has since travelled widely, living in Japan, Belgium and Italy, among other places. He holds a BA and an MA from University College Dublin, and an MA and a PhD from the University of East Anglia. He currently divides his time between the UK and Spain.

Reviews

[Eric Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It astounds me when an author can create such a convincing voice for a character based on a real historical figure from an entirely different era - one which pays tribute to the real person, intellectually engages with the social politics of the day and makes that voice so compelling you want to hang upon every word she says. Debut author Gavin McCrea has done that with Lizzie Burns, a working-class woman of Irish descent who moved to London in 1870 with celebrated theorist Friedrich Engels. This was a time when Engels and Marx were engaged with founding a political philosophy which would change the world. McCrea is more concerned with the domestic side of this story. I don’t just mean the household duties and complex emotional bond between Lizzie and Friedrich – although the novel does deal meaningfully with these intricacies. What he’s created is a challenge to how the overarching ideals of this communist movement hold up when viewed through the lens of a woman with little means, bad lungs and a ferocious heart.

Read my full review of review of Mrs Engels by Gavin McCrea on LonesomeReader

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally love Victorian-set historical fiction and books about famous wives (I have a whole shelf for them), so I was surprised by how little I liked this novel about Lizzie Burns, the illiterate, working-class Irish woman who was Frederick Engel’s longtime common-law partner. With Karl Marx, Engels was one of the chief thinkers responsible for bringing the ideals of Communism from Manchester’s workers to the London intelligentsia. The novel flits between 1870–1, when Lizzie and Frederick were newly arrived in London and involved in helping the poor and Franco-Prussian War refugees, and their earlier years in Manchester. The big surprise – though I imagine it’s common knowledge to those who are up on their history – is that Lizzie’s sister and fellow mill worker, Mary, was Frederick’s lover first.

Lizzie is a no-nonsense first-person narrator, and her coarse, questionably grammatical speech fits with her background. I can objectively admire how McCrea (Irish himself) has recreated her voice. However, I never warmed to Lizzie or felt that she was giving a truly intimate look at her own life. Nor did I feel I learned anything much about Marx and Engels. Lizzie’s interactions are mostly with Jenny Marx and her daughters, or with the servants, all of whom have peculiar nicknames that are never explained. This novel had such potential to bring an exciting, revolutionary time to life, but it never fulfilled its promise for me.

“To Lizzie Burns. Proletarian, Irish rebel and model Communist!” Frederick cries. Her life story is remarkable, without a doubt, but this novel made little impact on me. It’s a shame, given how outwardly appealing the book is – that cover image, that font! – and the fact that I’m headed to Manchester at the end of the month for the first time and plan to visit some Marx sites. I may well find that a biographical work is more vivid and imaginative than this.

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published: 01/05/2015
Author: Gavin McCrea

I received this book through GoodReads FirstReads competition for free.

I thought that this book was an absolutely brilliant book that was very well written. This book starts off with a warning from Lizzie Brown who is warning us about men, which gives us the perfect outline of what Lizzie Brown is like, the author has managed to capture the characters details in such a way that it very vividly paints a picture of her in the readers mind, she is extremely witty, funny and an all round great character to read about.
In this book Lizzie and Frederick move from the lovely cotton mills in Manchester, which they are very much used to, too London in order to be closer to Karl Marx. Lizzie is a really wonderful central character who seems to readily grasp the new surroundings she finds herself in and gains more confidence throughout the novel. Gavin McCrea is a truly amazing author who manages to make Communism facinating to read about and who makes you feel like you are really there in 19th century London, like you are walking down the streets with them seeing what they are seeing. I could happily read this book again and again and never get bored of it! I love it!
When I was reading this book it really felt like it could have being about an event that had really happened, the descriptions of the surroundings, characters, setting are outstanding they truly capture what it must hae being like to live in that era and place. The novel drew me into it so much that it felt like I was reading a true life story. It really shows how talented the author Gavin McCrea is, if you havent read a book in the historical fiction genre before then I would suggest you try read this one first.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is a fictionalisation of the life of Lizzie Burns, helpmeet to Friedrich Engels, who along with Karl Marx developed Marxist theory and communism. For most of us, these are just names of political theorists, to be admired or despised depending on your political inclinations. But McCrae has used the skeleton facts of Lizzie’s life, (that is, as far as I can tell from Wikipedia), to create an engaging distinctive voice to bring these people to life in a domestic setting and to show us the human flaws of men whose ideas changed the course of history.

When the story opens, Lizzie is moving to Primrose Hill in London as Engels’ partner after her sister has died. As the narrative moves back and forwards in time, we learn that Lizzie and her sister Mary were born into poverty in Manchester and were working in the mill that the Engels family owned when Engels comes into their lives. He was sent by his father to learn the family business, but what Engels learned instead was that life in the slums of Manchester was hell on earth. This was a time when, as Lizzie tells us, working-class men did the sewing and the darning because they were at home while their women went out to work, employable only because their wages were lower than a male wage. Amongst the poor were the Irish who’d fled the potato famine but found themselves living in dank, filthy slums, riddled with TB and typhus, and with no clean water supply. (We know this because in 1844 Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England).

Anyway, Lizzie has her doubts about Engels when her sister Mary fancies him. There are only two alternatives to working in the mill, marriage or domestic service, and Lizzie doesn’t think much of Mary’s chances of marriage with Engels because of the social gulf between them. Engels is an educated middle-class man, apparently Protestant, and the girls are illiterate factory workers of Irish Catholic descent.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/07/25/mr...

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latter part of the nineteenth century saw great changes, not just from an industrial perspective, but also in the way low paid workers viewed the direction in which their lives were heading. For Lizzie Burns, an Irish mill worker from Manchester, life is never going to be easy. When she and her sister, Mary, attract the attention of wealthy mill owner Frederick Engels, life for both women is irrevocably changed. Based on factual evidence, this fictional story of Lizzie Burns and her association with Frederick Engels is a fascinating story of two disparate people drawn together by circumstance, and yet, as their personalities coalesce, they forge a link which is both endearing and enthralling in equal measure.

Removed from her humble roots and taken to London, Lizzie sets up a substantial home with Engels, an arrangement which doesn’t always meet with the approval of the London elite. At first, Lizzie seems like the proverbial square peg in a round hole, quick to anger, easy to cajole and yet filled with such a zest for life. And, as she and Frederick get drawn further into society, and as Engel’s relationship with Karl Marx starts to develop, Lizzie finds herself drawn into the lively discussions which support the idea of radical social change for the working classes.

There is much to take in, not just with the well written account of Engels and Marx’s struggle to get their voices heard, but also in the way in which Lizzie is forced to re-evaluate everything she has once understood to be true. Time and place is captured perfectly and the rawness and the challenge of living in Victorian England comes gloriously alive. Lizzie is a worthy protagonist and is a strange contradiction of honest working class common sense and touching vulnerability. Reading her words is like being in the room with her, she’s feisty and funny, coarse and delicate, and so supremely flawed, that you want to both protect and chastise her in equal measure.

I loved it, and I am sure that Mrs Engels it will appeal to those readers who enjoy well written historical fiction.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning of Mrs Engels, Lizzie Brown gives a warning about men. This warning perfectly introduces the reader to the character of Lizzie. She has been wonderfully crafted by Gavin McCrea, she is sparky and witty and quite incredible.

Mrs Engels is a work of fiction but is based upon Lizzie Burns. Lizzie was Irish and illiterate and also the long-time lover of Frederick Engels; a leading figure who wrote The Communist Manifesto.

This is novel that took me completely by surprise. I took a gamble on it and it paid off handsomely.
Gavin McCrea has cleverly told this story in Lizzie's voice and has brought her to life so very well.

Lizzie and Frederick move to London to be closer to Karl Marx. For Lizzie, this really is a whole new world, far away from the cotton mills of Manchester. Lizzie is an observer and a quick learner and although she appears to adapt to this new world, she remains uncertain about money and wealth. She has strong memories of her first love, she is often confused by her own feelings but gains confidence as the story moves on.

Mrs Engels introduced me to a subject about which I knew nothing. McCrea makes the subject of Communism both fascinating and easily understood, his depiction of Marx and Engels is powerful.

Mrs Engels is really atmospheric, the reader is transported to the streets of London during the nineteenth century. Historical fiction has never been my favourite genre, but every so often I do stumble across a gem, and this is one of those. Lizzie Burns is a fabulous character, I adore her!

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

We read Mrs Engels as one of our books for our monthly book club. As a whole, the group did not seem to really enjoy it. There was a general consensus that it was very hard work to get into and many of the group gave up. The characters were written to be unlikable and seemed very contrived. They appeared as fictional characters that were flat on the page and not as actual people
There were some positives to the novel. McCrea’s choice to expand on the true lives of Marx and Engels was a good idea, but unfortunately it failed to live up to its promise. The structure of the novel was also quite disjointed. At times it was difficult to know where the main character was as it jumps between locations.

In short I liked premise behind Mrs Engels, but it was let down by its execution and failed to develop into a very good read

[N.L. Brisson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederick Engels, as in coauthor of The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx, as in the thinker who provided the ideology of, political strategies and impetus for the Russian Revolution and several other minor upheavals across Europe, was the husband of the Mrs. Engels who is the title character in this book. Frederick Engels came from a solidly Capitalist (burgher) family in Germany. His family’s business manufactured sewing thread in Germany and in Manchester, England.

Engels did not want to work in the family business but in spite of his anti-Capitalist beliefs he ran the family’s mill in Manchester for most of his adult life and provided the money he and Karl Marx needed to enable them to write about the plight of workers in the 1800’s. There is certainly irony here and a purist would have been at constant war with himself but Engels was apparently more pragmatic and felt that the ends would justify the means it took to get to a society where workers were valued.

History tells us that a young Frederick Engels met Mary Burns, a worker at his mill, when he was 24. Mary fell in love and agreed to live with Engels. They never married. Neither believed that marriage needed the approval of government, society, or the church. Mary had a sister, Lydia (Lizzie) Burns. These things are facts. Little detail is known about these women. History also tells us that Mary Burns’ heart gave out in 1863 – 19 years into her relationship with Engels (although he was not in England for all of those years). There are also historical facts to support that after Mary died, Engels and Lizzie Burns lived together for 15 years. In 1878, as Lizzie was dying, Frederick Engels married her.

Gavin McCrea in his novel, Mrs. Engels, invents the details of the daily lives of these two working women who kept house for Engels and shared his younger years, and he tells their lives to us through the voice of Lizzie (Lydia) Burns. Neither Mary nor Lizzie were known to be interested in housekeeping and yet they both kept house for Engels, although Lizzie and Frederick had two servants when they lived in London. The sisters were Irish and Lizzie could not read or write, but both women were somewhat familiar with the idea of revolution and were friends with some of the men planning and conducting the Irish Revolution, the Fenians.

The author does well at capturing Lizzie’s voice and representing her very believable, although unverifiable, activities. However, since Lizzie’s real focus is Engels the author also tells us about Frederick Engels, but through Lizzie’s eyes. There is not a great love here – no passionate romance – just two people who have become companions and who live well together. The author imagines for Lizzie and Frederick and even Mary exactly the kind of life one might imagine for a Father of Communism, but perhaps a bit more upper middle class. There is no evidence that Frederick cohabited with another woman after Lizzie’s death.

Mrs. Engels by Gavin McCrea, although showing a life that seems quite mundane, seems an entirely plausible account, and gives insight into these two famous men who worked so very hard to get laborers to overturn the social and political order of the times with results that eventually changed the world into the one we still are dealing with in the 21st century. Odd that from something so prosaic came something so transformative. These men gave us a revolution that did not end the inequalities they sought to overcome, but instead left us with an unappetizing political system that affects many people around the globe in powerful ways.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done. This was a real step into history, and although fiction, it felt very real of the times (as far as I imagine them). It is about real people from history, following the times of the communism theory men Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; but told from the perspective of Lizzie Burns, Engel's common-law wife. So even if you're not particularly interested in the political and social history side of things, this is good to read if only for Lizzie Burn's voice. She's a fantastic down-to-earth character who sees things how they are, and isn't fooled by any idealistic nonsense. Because although there's all this fighting going on for the common man, free states, equal rights etc etc - it's all done with the biggest injustice of them all right infront of their noses and completely ignored: the rights of women. And another thing that impressed me is that this is a first novel, by a guy, and he's got this first person narrative of this very strong willed woman, and it felt like he'd got it just right. Men writing women don't always pull it off.

So really, this is the life story of Lizzie Burns, as told by herself. Born in Manchester, of Irish origin, she grew up as a mill girl along with her elder sister, Mary. The mill they worked at was owned by the Engels family. The son, Frederick, came over to start learning the running of the business. But Engel's head was full of saving the working classes, so he got to know the employees, and became entwined with the Burns girls as much as he'd allow himself to be entwined with anyone. He didn't "believe" in the institution of marriage, which was ok for a man to say in those days, but not easy for a woman (another thing that never seems to cross his mind during his great idealogical fights).

Interesting story in itself, but also leaves you with plenty to think about.

I was lucky enough to win this copy on a goodreads giveaway, so many thanks to the publisher for sending this to me to read.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a story that reclaims a shadowy presence on the margins of history - Lizzie Burns, aka Mrs Engels. Gavin McCrea's book achieves the almost impossible as it effortlessly weaves into a coherent tale the turbulence of Fenianism, the birth of Marxism, the crisis of the Paris Commune, London living in the 19th Century, and Engels' industrialist background, not to mention the interwoven relationships in the home lives of both the Engels and Marx households. In a book that shouldn't work, or at the very least be ponderous, Gavin McCrea manages to lightly bring to life an extraordinary period; a period that is told through the beautifully imagined, idiosyncratic voice of Lizzie. Far from being a vehicle through which to tell the story, the remarkable thing about this book is that Lizzie's individuality lives with the reader long after the final word is read and the book is closed.
'I couldn't put it down' is a hackneyed and a not often truthfully used phrase. For once I can use it accurately: as soon as I'd read the opening sentence - 'No one understands men better than the women they don't marry, and my own opinion - beknown only to God - is that the difference between one man and another doesn't amount to much' - I couldn't put Gavin McCrea's Mrs Engels down. An inspiring, wonderful read.

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his first novel, McCrea took a mini-historical detail - that Engels lived with his deceased wife's sister - and married her right before she died. With this sketchy information, he crafted a novel with thoroughly believable and entertaining touches. He brings to the reader observations about Victorian England (and Ireland's troubles) throwing in just enough political theory, domestic scenes and colorful characters to keep the pages turning. I particularly enjoyed Lizzie Burn's voice and look forward to Gavin McCrea's next effort. (And the book is adorable.)

[Anmiryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful voice driven novel that looks at historical figures obliquely through the eyes of an outsider. I won't be forgetting the Lizzie Burns who comes to life in these pages. Blunt, but warm. Tough and tender. A working class woman who can see Engels and Marx clearly in all their contradictions and who tries to navigate a prosperous life she never expected to have while retaining her connections to the world of poverty and oppression she leaves behind.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favorite cousin recommended this book to me and I was finally able to both find it and an audiobook for it and got it read. And I kind of feel like I am never going to get those eight days back. I really didn't enjoy this that much.

I know next to nothing about Friedrich Engels much less that he had a common-law wife named Lizzie Burns, so I went into this story with no preconceived notions or expectations. And my take-away is that Lizzie Burns is an angry woman who doesn't like being angry and doesn't like her circumstances and is willing to fight anyone who feels the need to talk about her or about Mr. Engels in a negative way, even though she herself is mostly at odds with the man himself. I never really could grasp why she was angry [as she entered into this relationship with him knowing full well what it was going to be like having watched him with her sister before her sister passed. Yes, you read that correctly. Didn't even wait for her to be cold in her grave before they took up together] and why she just didn't leave or find someone else [but not that Moss character; what she saw in him was beyond me] if she was so unhappy. Perhaps she was just born angry and therefore this was just how she always was; I have no idea, but it made the dialogue boring and tedious at times.

The book also jumped around a lot - from present to past and back again, with really no indication it was doing so, so there was a lot of guesswork that has to happen while you are reading as well.
And leads to a really meh experience. At least for me.

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book club book. I read the book in 3 days because I was borrowing a friend's Kindle and wanted to get it back to her before book club. So I didn't take time to research the historical characters and why they were important. The only name I knew was Karl Marx. The others were complete unknowns to me, so I took the story as mostly fiction and read the book for what it had to offer. Before I knew of the various complaints about not giving the known historical facts their due, I was gladly giving the author kudos for this accomplishment of a first novel. Taking on the dialects, colloquialisms, social beliefs and behaviors of the time and for several nationalities (German, Irish, French), I think the author is to be commended. I hope the jeers don't dissuade the author from continuing to write and improve his art.

[Nadine in California · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at Engels, the Marx family, Fenians, Communists, and class in general, through the eyes of Lizzie Burns, illiterate former millworker and common law wife of Friedrich Engels. He thinks of her as a heroine of the proletariat, but she's not one to romanticize anyone or anything - especially herself. It felt to me like a very real slice of history, especially women's history. I truly felt like I was there. Lizzie is a hard woman, the product of a hard life, but with engaging humor and spirit. This is a quiet book that packs a quiet punch.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. I read this book, because of my Dad, who was an economist, but always told me (I did also study econ.) that all economics is political. He completely approved of my university's dept.'s name "Political Economy".

Gavin on Mrs Engels: 'Immediately upon learning about her, I understood that Lizzie—the second lover to the second communist—was going to become my second pair of eyes onto the world of Marx and Engels.'

This book is not just a well-imagined life ( pieced together from what we know of Engels and Marx), but also well written.

Lizzie Engel's was proletarian (Marx and Engel's were upper middleclass, Jenny Marx aristocratic) as was Jenny's sister Engel's first wife. As a result, by focusing on Jenny one glimpses how the working class may have viewed Marx and Engels and their Cause. Jenny and Mary Burns knew intimately about poverty, child labor and slums. I wouldn't say that Jenny was a communist, more a working class person and Irish rebel. Although illiterate, by all accounts, she was a strong, intelligent and capable woman.

At the outset, Jenny is all about survival, but as the story progresses she learns much about herself and the world.

Some quotes.

“How oft we admire the wrong thing.”

“The world doesn’t happen the way you think it will. The secret is to soften to it, and to take its blows. But a person doesn’t understand this til all chance of acting is past. How can we know when we’re young and busy hardening ourselves against the winds, and dreaming of a time when things won’t require us to be hard at all, how can we know that, in fact, we’re living only our life.”

“You think if you ask enough questions, you get to know what they’re like, but you won’t. You think there’s something there, something to find. The truth is there’s naught but what you have in your mind about them. In front of us aren’t our husbands, but the stories we make of them, one story good til a better one comes to replace it , and it’s only afterwards that this is understood; only after you have loved them and haetd them for what they never were; only after it has ceased to matter. “

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs. Engels is the first insight I've been given into the world of Karl Marx and socialism. Mrs. Engels, also known as Lizzie Burns, was the long-time partner of Frederick Engels, the man behind the funding of Karl Marx and his socialism movement endeavors.

While it did take me a while to get into the story, I was fascinated by the real-life events of Lizzie's life used by McCrea as subject matter for the book. Contracting a sexually transmitted disease after having sex for the first time that left her unable to bear children, knowing that Frederick had often taken other lovers, including her sister, and living among the upper-class to which she had risen from near poverty while being treated harshly by both sides must have been overwhelming and heartbreaking for Lizzie. Reading about her sister's many miscarriages - the babies fathered by Frederick, her sister's first lover - and her eventual death following a traumatic miscarriage led me to feel an enormous amount of compassion for Lizzie.

This, combined with the hypocrisy of Engels' and Marx's socialism theories was an essential plot point. Engels, for example, was born into a wealthy family that owned the mills in which Lizzie and her sister worked for years to avoid starvation and homelessness. Yet here he is attempting to lead movements calling for equality for all classes. That would be quite easier to do from an office located in one of the nicest homes on Primrose Hill. Marx and Engels themselves never attempted to involve themselves in any revolts made toward abusive governments. They simply took credit for them afterward, while hundreds had died in the French Revolution led by peasants who were likely not even aware of Marx and his Communist Manifesto. At home, both Engels and Marx are unfaithful to their wives - Marx with his own housemaid, Frederick refuses to marry Lizzie until she is on her deathbed.

Overall a very insightful book into the lives of these men and women instrumental in creating the idea of socialism, yet I found myself wanting to get through it quickly.

[Eddie K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written from the perspective of Frederick Engels lover, this novel is a brilliantly written and an interesting look at the lesser known characters in Engels life.
Although Marx and Engels may be the only names that are familiar to the reader, I know they were to me, the novel focuses instead on Lizzie Burns, an Irish immigrant living in a small house in Manchester with her sister, working in a mill and generally living the hard life that came along with being an Irish immigrant in England in the mid 19th century. That is until the mill owner, Frederick Engels, falls in love with her sister and life changes for both of them. In their rise from poverty to the riches of living in a prosperous part of London the author explores whether money and good social standing is enough to make you happy.
There are many pleasing aspects of this novel, the strong, bold character of Lizzie, the questions raised about class, wealth and happiness, but for me one of the strongest elements of this novel is the fluent way in which Gavin McCrea approaches the often difficult technique of writing simultaneously in two separate time periods, one in Manchester, one a few years later in London. It feels as though he knows that this is the best way to portray the aspects of the story that he feels are important, and has challenged himself to do it in a manner that is not confusing, and he really succeeds in this endeavor.

[Stephen Goldenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like historical novels that chose to tell the story from the point of view of a background or lesser known character and this novel is a perfect example. The narrator is Lizzie Burns, the Manchester mill worker who became Fredrick Engels common law wife immediately following the death of her sister, Mary, who had been Engels' mistress. She's a marvellous character - a strong, feisty woman struggling to accommodate herself to a life of leisure with Engels in London and maintain her independence. McCrea creates a beautiful stylised language for her - a mix of Victoriana, rough working class street slang and a touch of Irish whimsy. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells of Victorian London and Manchester give the reader a subtle but convincing picture of the period without smothering the story with lashings of research.The full cast of characters through Engels, Karl Marx and his family, various servants, Irish republicans and French Communards are perfectly and sympathetically portrayed. Highly recommended.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book as a giveaway on goodreads. I wish I could say I liked this book more. I usually like historical fiction. This novel by Gavin McCrea is based on real life people in a fictional setting. It is seen through the eyes of Lizzie Burns, a working class illiterate Irish woman who spent a good part of her adult life living with Frederick Engels. Engels was known for contributing to the book "Communist Manifesto" with Karl Marx, Lizzie Burns was Engels common law wife. she lived with him after her sister Mary, who was Frederick Engel's first love. it takes place in around the 1860s . Gavin McCrea gives the little known woman a voice. I found that this book dragged on and on. I found myself growing bored with the book. I like the idea McCrea had to give Lizzie a voice but had a hard time getting through. I see other critics loved this book and even raved about how much they enjoyed this novel. Others may like it better that i did.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this through a Goodreads giveaway. I wasn't expecting a great deal (which is often the best way of approaching a new book) and was happily surprised. Quality, this was. I also think books automatically earn 10,000 coolness points when they are written by Irish authors. There's a crackle and flame to the lingo and language that both warms and excites. Mrs Engels was instantly endearing. The title is an inspired choice too, though you won't know that until you reach the end.
I think a bit of the steam is lost in the last quarter of the book. Mrs Engels starts to go out in a bit of a sputtering fizz towards the end, speaking and thinking in Mills and Boon clichés. But that's not enough of a dampener to cull a star from my four star rating.
Funny and fun and recommended.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs Engels, which I understood after reading the novel did really exist, is a fantastic character - one that forces the reader to engage in a connection which proves very difficult, at least at the beginning, because of the incredible social and cultural gulf that separates her from us, and yet... and yet, as you proceed through the novel, you can't help loving her, not in spite of, but because of her distance and difference from you. I was admired by McCrea's ability to create such a character, and my admiration only grew after realising the amount of research that such a novel must have required. I loved McCrea's ability to create a language, Mrs Engel's language, and a wisdom, Mrs Engel's wisdom, which you end up missing so much once you finish reading this novel.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me from the first. Lizzie, the central character immediately appeals and, although it is a work of fiction, Lizzie's tale brings to life Marx and Engels in a way that thoroughly humanizes them.
Full of often fascinating historical detail, 19th century Manchester and London have never felt so alive.

I received my copy free via Goodreads giveaways

[Rhiannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written appropriately for the time it was set, but too many obscure slang terms. I found it somewhat long-winded, and it didn't seem to go anywhere. I did enjoy the characters, however.

Received from Goodreads First Reads Giveaways

[John Naylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book for free via Goodreads First Reads.

That was over four years ago. Sometimes books just slip away from to read piles.

How I will remember this book is that there is a passage that uses a word that seems out of place repeatedly. It is a word that is rarely seen in modern literature and is offensive. If this was in historical context then it can be excused. The amount it was repeated here reminded me of a child who has been told not to use a word so they say it in every sentence.

Apart from that, I just didn't enjoy the read. I could nitpick on certain historical inaccuracies but they were not the reason. The author has a good grasp of language but the way he uses it feels forced at times. The plot didn't flow. It merely stuttered.

The book was definitely polished in its conception and setting. It just felt like a polished turd. It felt inconsistent throughout. I never truly cared for any character within. It was a chore to read at times and I felt myself losing interest.

Historic fiction using real people can be a fascinating read. This is not the best example of that.

[Cassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was awful. The people were some of most annoying characters that I have ever met. I’m not even sure what the point was— was it to show what hypocrites the leaders of the communist party were? Was it to show me that the proletariat wanted to be part of the bourgeois even when they were involved with the communist party? I was so confused by their utter awfulness and that was before they drowned the kittens. I should have stopped there but I hate read it to the end. And don’t even get me started on Lizzie’s stupidness - and I don’t mean that she is illiterate. Why did she keep chasing after Moss? Why did she always think she had to take on everyone’s problems. Ugh!! That is time I will NEVER get back.

[Sara✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK let's me be short here like super short- There was a long time since I was so bored by book. Well this book was super boring to me I read 37 chapters and I didn't even know what I am reading. No no and no.

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[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to begin with and has some lovely profound sentences but overall falls a bit flat. Lizzie the protagonist doesn't seem to have any feelings, or rather they are unearned and just randomly appear, it's hard to stay invested.

[Yooperprof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative, thoughtful, original, often funny. "Mrs. Engels" is a vibrant historical novel, set in London and Manchester in the mid-19th century, giving voice to the illiterate Irish laboring woman who was mistress/companion of pioneering socialist Friedrich Engels.

Impressively, this is Gavin McCrea's first published novel.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is only the second First Reads book I've ever won, and now I've probably ruined my chances of winning again by taking too long to read and review it. Oh, well. I also received an ARC, if that matters.

Okay, I'm about to say something that will seem kind of mean, but isn't actually mean, I don't think: Mrs. Engels is like a less-fun (read: less-trashy) The Observations without the (quasi) queer baiting (still undecided about whether The Observations knew it was queer baiting) with more famous people. And with some structural problems and weird dialogue. See, I said it would seem kind of mean! To both books! But I liked both books, actually, and The Observations is the closest read-alike I can think of.

I'm glad I got the opportunity to read Mrs. Engels, honestly, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. Kind of a pleasantly weird book, but also . . . weird in a sufficiently familiar way? Odd without being - wait for it . . . alienating. (Haha!) (The press putting it out in the US [maybe elsewhere, I haven't checked] is very new, apparently, and I think this is an interesting book with which to announce oneself. I am not a book blogger or whatever, just a grad student, so I will just say that they've also published kind of a cool Alexander Chee essay on the blog or whatever. I don't know, I haven't thought about it very much but I will read more free books, if you guys want, Catapult?)

McRea does a nice job with Lizzie Burns' voice - she reads like a specific person, and even though everyone else is filtered through her, they feel like real, specific people too. I think this is tricky to pull off - some people coughMichaelCunninghamcough don't and it wrecks the book - and McRea does it, and deserves praise for that. Lizzie is also great because she is written in such a way that she deflates a lot of leftist pretensions - The Cause is ridiculous, as The Cause always is, even when its warranted. And honestly, ridiculous is kind of the best you can hope for. The Cause can also be pretty toxic and exploitative. So, Lizzie is quite a strength of this book, although she's not the next Molly Bloom, which is what the cover blurb wants you to think. (I feel like that is a poor marketing decision, by the way.)

There are, though, some clunky bits of dialogue that never quite erase themselves from your notice while reading. It's not unusual for first novels to be too schematic, but there are some instances here where it read a little bit like McRea had written in the theme and intended to go back and insert something more graceful. You know, the ideological equivalent of those Voyager [TECH] scripts. So, that's a problem. And the book is just too amorphous (I know, how can it be schematic and amorphous?) in its plot. I like the quotidian focus, because that's firmly grounded in the rest of the book. But it tries to be an origin story and a story of middle age and developing illness, and these pieces don't fit well together - plus, the last page or so is really not good.

So, worth reading, but not without some missteps. I liked the middle best, which is unusual for me - unusual enough that it is sufficient to warrant a recommendation for somebody looking for one.