Briefly, A Delicious Life

By: Nell Stevens

Narrated by: Ferdelle Capistrano

*A Cosmopolitan Best Book of Summer * One of BuzzFeed’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books*

An “exquisite…too lovely to bear” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel from an award-winning writer: a playful and daring tale about a teenage ghost who falls in love with the writer George Sand.

In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she’s been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants.

Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longing—a teenage ghost pining for a woman who can’t see her and doesn’t know she exists. As George and Chopin, who wear their unconventionality, in George’s case, literally on their sleeves, find themselves in deepening trouble with the provincial, 19th-century villagers, Blanca watches helplessly and reflects on the circumstances of her own death (which involved an ill-advised love affair with a monk-in-training).

Charming, original, and emotionally moving, this “deeply wild debut follows the unconventional love triangle” (Cosmopolitan) between George, Chopin, and Blanca—a gorgeous and surprising exploration of artistry, desire, and life after death.

The perspective of one who has lived observing the living was brilliant!

Vivid storytelling… I saw, felt & experienced every moment & all the challenges of characters living way before the world was ready to accept their uniqueness… enjoyed this audio!

A Must Read

Beautifully written. What a unique way to tell a story full of interesting information about historical characters. It left me wanting more. I miss Blanca already.

Solid book

Solid book not really for me, a bit arbitrary choice of Georges sand and Chopin but best thing I can say about it is that I finished and didn’t hate it. Good ending

Good Story, Terrible Narration

Really loved the concept of this book, and the story itself. Wish I hadn't used a credit on this though, and had instead purchased the book and read it myself. Narrator has a nice tone to her voice, but the actual reading was horrible; just really inconsistent in pitch, she emphasized the wrong words in the sentences, etc. The reading of it actually changed the sentences to the point that the meaning of them sometimes changed and made the book choppy; it would've been so much better if they'd hired a narrator who read the story smoothly and correctly. This felt very amateur.

Honest review

I liked how each character felt different and true to themselves. I also liked that they didn’t really fit in Mallorca—it made the story feel more real. I enjoyed how the book moves between Blanca’s life before she died, especially her time spent with the boy from the monastery, and the present-day story of the new family in the house.
However, I didn’t feel very connected to the characters. I didn’t really care about what happened to them. The story also felt a bit broken up, like different scenes placed next to each other instead of one smooth story.
Overall, the book had interesting ideas and unique characters, but I had a hard time feeling emotionally involved.