Thank you Libro.fm for the ALC and William Morrow, #partner for the finished copy of The Burning Library in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: William Morrow / William Morrow
Published: November 18, 2025
Summary:
A thrilling dark-academia tale of murder, obsession and ruthless ambition set in remote St Andrews, Scotland
On a frigid, windswept day in Scotland’s Western Hebrides, Eleanor Bruton’s body is discovered on the shore. To her family Eleanor was an ordinary middle-aged woman. She made flower arrangements and plumped kneeler cushions at church. Little did they know she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret: a scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance.
For more than a century two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn: The Order of St Katherine, devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks, determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible…so long as their methods of doing so never come to light.
When Dr Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship of the Larks, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St Andrews. Meanwhile at Scotland Yard, Detective Clio Spicer begins a private investigation into the death of Eleanor Bruton.
As all of them grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances are spinning wildly out of control and their lives may be in grave danger.
My thoughts:
I am a big fan of Gilly Macmillan and I loved that this book was a bit different than what she normally writes. It was more historical in natural, with a lot of moving parts, but it did not stop me from being fully invested right from the start.
This is such an incredibly smart, intricately plotted thriller, with a secret society, conspiracy theories, and a historical artifact that everyone seems to want. The characters are so richly drawn and whether you end up liking them or not, you walk away having felt like you really knew who they were.
This is the type of book that just begs for a reread because it is just so complex and full of intricately detailed background that it is easy to miss something. That thirst of knowledge that drives our characters has left me wanting to make sure I didn’t gloss over anything that would make my understanding that much better. And I already loved the book! It’s suspenseful and full of morally grey characters that add the perfect dynamic to an already thrilling read!
Audio thoughts:
I paired the physical read with the audio, narrated by Rose Robinson and Steph de Whalley, for an immersive reading experience. It really helped me fully engage in the story and I loved the way the 2 narrators brought the text to life.
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