Anna Godbersen

I went into this book expecting a sense of the real nineteenth century Manhattan, and was rather disappointed with the results. Certainly, there was an abundance of description regarding chairs, mirrors, rooms, and dresses, dresses, dresses. But the characters were for the most part sad mock-up of young girls; they all seemed either stereotypes of society or deliberately scandalous. The actions and dialogue of many seemed ill-suited to the time or the story. The central cast, including five Victorian teens: Elizabeth, Henry, Penelope, Carolina, and Diana, was a perfect example of this. Henry Schoonmaker – New York's most sought after bachelor-never showed an ounce of appeal. Elizabeth Holland -perfect daughter- was dull. Her sister Diana was incredibly ill-bred for some one of her class and Penelope-her friend/enemy- was shallow. Carolina seemed to have been placed to add conflict to the plot, and her actions jarred with her station. At times I wondered why am I reading this? until I hit the middle of the story and the plot locked into place and carried me to the end. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was solid- if unbelievable. I confess what snared me in the end was how the author managed to make each character view the others from a new point of view, which is rare and oddly refreshing.

Final Word: I finished with mixed feelings. It not a good historical fiction and only a middling book- yet I may end up picking up the others for the sake of its unusual construction and perspective.
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