“Gorgeous, assured writing, a captivating plot, and a delicious, totally unexpected ending make for a seriously entertaining novel. Sit back and enjoy the read.”

— Jeanne Winer, Author of the triple-starred mystery Her Kind of Case

“Reading and writing are normally solitary and anonymous endeavors. Not so in Ellen Pall’s bewitching Must Read Well, an examination of love, lust, and literature told via secret diaries read aloud—think Les Liaisons Dangereuses meets The Sorrows of Young Werther. Pall’s gift for elegant prose belies a powerful tale spiced with romantic and professional duplicity. By turns sensuous and sensitive, Must Read Well is an irresistible narrative fueled by ambition and admiration.”

— Barbara Basbanes Richter, Member, National Book Critics Circle

“From its suspenseful unfolding straight through to its gratifying ending, Must Read Well reads so well that I couldn’t put it down.”

— Alix Kates Shulman, Author of The Million-Selling Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen

“Must Read Well is a classic slow burner. Pall builds up a picture of a growing, if one-sided friendship, the apartment filled with memories of the past and with secrets Weil has kept hidden all her life. There are parallel narratives here: the modern-day story of Liz’s life in the apartment, her work and her ambitions, alongside the story told in Weil’s diaries, which are what Liz must read out loud to her sight-impaired employer; but the main body of the story lies within the claustrophobic setting of the apartment and the relationship that is told in the conversations between the two women.

Beautifully written, Must Read Well is a book that draws the reader in to its world, and becomes more and more absorbing as the strange relationship between the women, the place and the events of the past are played out.

Highly recommended.”

— Danuta Reah, who also writes under the name Carla Banks, is the author of seven crime novels, a novella, and many short stories.