Book of Forbidden Words – Louise Fein | Book Review | #BookOfForbiddenWords @FeinLouise @Harper360UK @RandomTTours #Booksky

From bestselling author Louise Fein comes a new historical novel set in a world of banned books and censorship, in which an encrypted manuscript unleashes a chain of consequences across 400 years, perfect for fans of Weyward and The Briar Club.

1552, PARIS: The printing press is quickly spreading new ideas across Europe, threatening the power of church and state and unleashing a wave of book burning and heretic hunting. When frightened ex-nun Lysbette Angiers arrives at Charlotte Guillard’s famous printing shop with her manuscript, neither woman knows just how far the powerful elite will go to prevent the spread of Lysbette’s audacious ideas.

1952, NEW YORK: Milly Bennett is a lonely housewife struggling to find her way in her new neighborhood amidst the paranoid clamors of McCarthy’s America. She finds her life taking an unexpected turn when a relic from her past presents her with a 400-year-old manuscript to decipher, pulling her into a vortex of danger that threatens to shatter her world.

From the risky backstreets of sixteenth-century Paris to the unpredictable suburbs of mid-twentieth century New York, the stakes couldn’t be higher when, 400 years apart, Milly, Lysbette, and Charlotte each face a reality where the spread of ideas are feared and every effort is made to suppress them.

Dramatic and affecting, and inspired by the real-life encrypted Voynich manuscript, Book of Forbidden Words is both an engrossing story about a timeless struggle that echoes through the ages and a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who dare to let their words be heard.

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper360
Format: Ebook, Audiobook, Paperback (26 February 2026)
384 pages

MY THOUGHTS

My thanks to Anne of Random Things Tours for the invite and to the publisher for the paperback copy to review. I’ve read (and loved) two of Louise’s previous books The London Bookshop Affair (2024) The Hidden Child (2021) and was thrilled to be part of this tour.

Set over differing timelines and told from the perspective of three main female characters, Charlotte, Lysbette and Milly, this is a captivating story of censorship through the ages – from the 16th century through to the 20th and the brave women who despite the danger they faced from accusations of heresy and communism in an intolerant world were determined to make their voices heard.

A 400 year old encrypted manuscript is the focus of the story; in 1500’s Paris renowned printer of theological books Charlotte Guillard is defying the authorities and secretly printing literature that has been banned. A brutal murder is the catalyst for Charlotte’s determination to protect the manuscript for future generations in any way she can.

The stories of all three women were beautifully drawn but for me Milly was the star. Hiding secrets of her past from her family through necessity, her feelings of loneliness and boredom were palpable but through her friendship with a local librarian, she was afforded some independence at a time when women couldn’t even open a bank account without their husband’s permission. She loved her husband and children of course but housework wasn’t her natural forte and she didn’t fit in with other mothers at the school gates. Her part was central to the story however actions have consequences, especially in McCarthy’s era of accusations for anything deemed to be subversive or “unAmerican,” whether it be books, teaching or people.

Compelling, powerful, rich with detail and superbly researched this is a story to savour. There is always an element of Louise’s books that is both thought provoking and educating and Book of Forbidden Words is no exception. I was drawn into this from the first page and have no hesitation in recommending.

At the back of the book is the author’s interesting ‘Behind the Book’ outlining those characters and events that were inspired by fact and history and those which are fictionalised.

Louise Fein is the author of Daughter of the Reich, which has been published in thirteen territories, the international bestseller The Hidden Child, and The London Bookshop Affair. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. She lives in Surrey, UK, with her family.

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