Reese Witherspoon has selected Rebecca Armitage’s The Heir Apparent as the latest pick for her book club.
Armitage’s debut novel, published Tuesday by Cardinal, follows Lexi Villiers, a medical resident living in Australia with her two best friends. She learns that her father and older brother have been killed in a skiing accident, making her the heir apparent to the British throne—a role she has never wanted. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “The author’s deep knowledge of all things royal adds realism and texture to this entertaining debut.”
Armitage told the Nerd Daily that she was inspired to write the novel by her years as a journalist covering the British royal family, saying the book was “ultimately a story about a young woman who needs to stop running from the past and decide what’s more important: her duty to her family, or her desire for freedom.”
Witherspoon announced the book’s selection on Instagram, writing, “We can’t wait for the world to fall in love with The Heir Apparent by @rebeccaarmitageauthor.”
Also on Instagram, Armitage reacted to her book’s selection, saying, “So if you know me, you know that I am absolutely terrible with secrets, but this is one that I managed to keep, and that is that The Heir Apparent is the December pick for Reese’s Book Club. I can’t believe it. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know how all this is happening, but it is.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
