The Forgotten Room

Where to begin with this absolute gem of a book? It's a sweeping tale of love found, love lost, and mystery surrounding a room in a mansion in New York City. It's centered around families and blooming where you are planted, as it were. But it's soul stirring and well written and just beautiful. The fact that three different authors contributed seamlessly to the story is just the icing on the cake. You won't be able to tell the difference in styles and the characters never suffer from a lack of continuity.

The story is told from three points of view:  Olive, a housemaid in 1892, seeking to revenge her father against the owner of the mansion in which she works; Lucy, Olive's daughter, who is a secretary in New York in 1920, seeking to find the truth about her paternity; and Kate, Lucy's daughter, a nurse during World War II, looking to find acceptance in a male-dominated field and to fight her attraction to the handsome patient in her care. We go from one point of view to the next and the next and then circle around again, each time bringing the story forward and laying groundwork for exposing mysteries. All three women live in the Pratt mansion at different times, and all three struggle with life choices and following their hearts. There are layers and layers and as you read on, nothing is really what you thought it would be.

I cannot write enough good things about this book. It is gripping and well written, and the storyline, while not necessarily unique, is well plotted. I found myself reading well past my bedtime in order to find out "one more thing" about one of these three thoroughly engaging young women. Pick it up and treat yourself. It's a pleasure.

~taminator40

The Ashford Affair

The Ashford Affair is a sweeping tale of family secrets and what happens when those secrets are brought to light many years later. Moving between the early part of the twentieth century to the last, The Ashford Affair tells the story of young Addie, whose parents are killed in the early 1900s; she is sent to live with her unknown uncle's titled family, where it is made clear that she is not really a part of them...except for her cousin Bea, who immediately takes Addie under her wing. As the years go by, we see incidents of the girls that show Bea's true nature and Addie's willingness to accept everything Bea does, until Bea's life takes a tumble into scandal that also breaks Addie's heart.

Meanwhile, in 1999, Clemmie, Addie's granddaughter, is working herself to death to make partner in a law firm and trying to get over the break up of her engagement. When Addie becomes ill, Clemmie begins to realize that she's neglected her grandmother; the stepson of her aunt Anna leads Clemmie to try to discover a few family secrets before it's too late. The hint of lost romance between the two also makes for much tension, but it's what Clemmie learns midway through the novel that knocks her for a loop.

The Ashford Affair is so well written that I was pulled into the lives of its characters immediately, often reading long past my bedtime just so I could see the next layer revealed. While it was fairly easy to see where at least part of the story was headed, the gorgeous writing pulled me into the era so fully that I was never quite sure if I would be correct. My biggest issue is the way things were neatly tied up at the end; there are a couple of problems with detective work that I might not buy into if I let it bother me. But overall this story is grand, and one I'll be thinking about for a while to come. Recommended!

~taminator40