The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir #thebookofessie #meghanmaclean #knopf #religion #teenpregnancy #realitytv @absltmom

  One of life’s many blessings for me is reading. I am bringing to you today on this lovely Fall day the book

Essie is the daughter of a powerful rich family who make their fortune through the use of reality TV, featuring a religious theme. She and her siblings are constantly in the spotlight, giving up their lives to the eyes of the viewing public. They are controlled, given no free choice, and are literally pawns of the concept of money, superiority and supremacy. They, governed by Essie’s mother, are the antithesis of perfect living, of morals beyond reproach, and a lifestyle that is always under a microscope through the cameras and the staged events that are witnessed. All looks to the eye perfect. The family is perfection but there is soon to be a huge black eye to their image. For seventeen year old Essie is pregnant, and the scheme the family concocts, plus the reveal of the father of Essie’s child, produces a riveting page turning novel.

Meghan MacLean has crafted a novel that poses some fine observations about what we see on reality TV. The staging, the coverups, the lies are portrayed for the reader as we go behind the scenes and discover the true nature of what you present to the public is never really your true face. There is no such thing as perfection, especially when it comes to family life. People who think their family is faultless, are presenting to us an ideal to make themselves feel important, but we all know deep inside that their pretense rings false.

I recommend this book, for it does present a serious look at a culture that oftentimes believes everything it sees and hears. I heard it on TV, saw it on Facebook, Instagram etc. means it must be true. The first line of this book says it all….

“On the day I turn seventeen, there is a meeting to decide whether I should have the baby or if sneaking me to a clinic for an abortion is worth the PR risk. I am not invited, which is just as well, since my being there might imply that I have some choice in the matter and I know that I have none.” Such is the world where lives are governed by a camera.

MEGHAN MACLEAN WEIR was raised in the rectory of her father’s church in Southbridge, Massachusetts, and later moved with her family to Buffalo, New York. Her memoir Between Expectations: Lessons from a Pediatric Residency chronicles her years in training at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital. She continues to live and work as a physician in the Boston area. THE BOOK OF ESSIE is her first novel.