Review by Booklist Review
Ross (What Was Mine, 2016) employs shifting time and perspectives to spin a tale that spans more than 100 years. In 1908, teenager Bridey sets sail from Dublin with her sweetheart, Thom. They plan to marry, but Thom dies of shipboard fever before they reach America, leaving Bridey to make her way alone. Pregnancy forces her to leave her job as a seamstress, and she gives birth in a home for wayward girls. There she meets Sarah Hollingworth, who is engaged in charity work. Sarah convinces Bridey to give up the child and takes her home to Hollingwood, the family home in Connecticut, to do domestic work. A few years later, Sarah adopts Bridey's son, called Vincent. Bridey does all the actual mothering until, when Vincent is still in his teens, they are separated by a suspicious death and a false accusation. It isn't until 2016 that Vincent's daughter uncovers the truth behind the family's secrets. Meticulous tracking of conventions, domestic conveniences, and more will please readers who like to be immersed in a different time.--Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As she did in What Was Mine, Ross explores themes of motherhood and family origins in this multigenerational saga. In 1908, 16-year-old Bridey travels from Ireland to New York with her sweetheart Thom in search of financial and romantic independence. But when Thom dies unexpectedly en route, Bridey arrives in America pregnant and alone, struggling to establish a safe and secure future for herself and her child. After a stint in a shirtwaist factory, Bridey is hired as a domestic servant for the wealthy Hollingworth family at their vast Connecticut estate. Bridey and the civic-minded Sarah Hollingworth share vital confidences with one another, but in the wake of a suspicious death, Bridey abruptly discovers the limitations of Sarah's trust. The sprawling narrative travels back and forth in time, with episodes ranging from 1899 to the present. Modern-day episodes-especially those focused on the events of 9/11 and its aftermath-feel forced and unnecessary, since readers will have already deduced the novel's central mysteries. Far more intriguing are the stories of Bridey and Sarah, both individually and jointly, as their shared secrets collide with their social status. This is a satisfying blend of historical and familial drama. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In her third novel, Ross (What Was Mine) weaves a tale of the wealthy Hollingworth family and a secret that spans five generations. Rich historical details bring time periods to life from early 1900s wartime and the Great Depression to 9/11. In 1908, 16-year-old Bridey leaves Ireland with her sweetheart, Thom, hoping to marry in America. Thom perishes of ship fever, leaving her alone and pregnant. She gives up the infant for adoption, working in a factory until she meets Sarah Hollingworth and becomes a maid at the family's lavish estate in Wellington, CT. Sarah, who lost her mother at age 12 and then took care of her siblings, marries Edmund, but is unable to have children of her own. Readers will come to know the infant as Vincent and follow him until his adult years. Vincent's granddaughter Emma loses her own father when the Twin Towers collapse, a repeating pattern of tragedy for the Hollingworth clan. Family drama unfolds in alternating viewpoints, as characters linked across time periods navigate poverty, loss, loneliness, and heartbreak. VERDICT Fans of historical sagas will enjoy this dramatic tale.-Laura Jones, Argos Community Schs., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The destiny and descendants of a pregnant Irish girl enmesh with those of a blueblood New England family, 1908-2018.Ross (What Was Mine, 2016) opens her first historical novel with an offstage death in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, followed immediately by an apparent poisoning at a Connecticut estate in 1927 and a tragic death at sea in 1908for such is the trajectory of long-hidden family secrets. From this head-spinning opening, we settle in to the main action of the book, in which a child is raised by both his adoptive mother and, unknown to him, his real one. Continuing to move among the perspectives of these three characters and several others, in chapters set in times and locations that range over the course of more than a century, the truth of what happened at the Hollingwood estate is gradually puzzled out. Period details large and small are worked into almost every scene: temperance, suffrage, Halley's comet, President William Howard Taft, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the evolution of medical treatment, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and myriad customs and practices of daily life. From the introduction of powdered laundry soap to the early popularity of Niagara Falls as a honeymoon destinationit's all here, and more detail is provided on many of these tidbits in notes at the back. A detailed family tree beginning in 1741 and related chronological charts will also please connoisseurs. The weaknesses of the book are in the plot: The central secret is kept too long for maximum effect; much turns on a false accusation that seems unlikely to have gained acceptance; and a blue bottle hidden in 1927 and found, with a marble in it, in 2016 both sheds light on the mystery and suggests confusing possibilities.Fans of historical fiction will find much to enjoya reprise of the well-loved immigrant narrative and a meticulous depiction of early-20th-century life. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
