The Nature of Fragile Things
Fiction
Berkley
February 2, 2021
E-book
384
Publisher via NetGalley
April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.
Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.
The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear.
My review:
This author is a go-to for me. I thoroughly enjoy how her books mark a historical event, while weaving into that an engaging fictional human interest story (or two). While most of her previous novels have had two time periods, this one focuses mainly on one, with brief flashbacks in the lives of the women. I liked this format as well as, if not more than, the others. There is also a detective interview woven throughout this one which I very much enjoyed as it followed along with the plot of the story. I was captivated by the characters and their plight, and learned a bit about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake along the way. Meissner does a great job of weaving the historical facts in without making it read like a documentary. The book is mostly about the residence of strong women, and their willingness to help each other in a moment of need. It also tackles the question of what makes a mother, and what qualities are important for the wellbeing of a child?
I can highly recommend this intriguing tale centered around an earthquake, but giving so much more insight into women, friendship, and motherhood. This author has still not disappointed me, and I look forward to whatever she writes next!
Sounds very compelling, I like books that interleaved historical events and the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 was exciting and horrible at the same time.
Would like to add this one to our book club reading list ☺️
I've read most of this author's work. She always frames the book around a historical event. There is usually a romance, which sometimes doesn't work for me, but on the whole I really like her books!