The Nature of Fragile Things

In the midst of the horrific San Francisco 1906 earthquake, three lives collide as secrets are exposed. Sophie, Belinda and Candace are from drastically different backgrounds yet they are united by tragedy.

The indomitable spirit of these ladies is a beautiful testimony of sisterhood. I devoured this novel in one sitting.

Recommend to readers who enjoy women’s fiction.

I won a copy. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

Loved the fascinating story as well as the history lesson surrounding the San Fransisco earthquake and subsequent fires. Susan Meissner has such a beautiful command of language.

I absolutely loved this one! This was my first book by Susan Meissner and now I want to read all her books! I was captivated from the first page. All Historical Fiction fans must check this out.

April, 1906, amongst the disastrous San Francisco earthquake! Sophie Whalen, whom is an irish immigrant and hasn’t been in NY for more than a few years, answers a mail order bride ad and marries Martin Hocking the first time they meet. They agree that he just needs a wife for appearance and to care for his young daughter Kat after the recent deaths of her mother.

One night, a pregnant woman comes knocking on her door. I do not want to say why this woman has come, but after this point, chaos begins. Lots and lots of secrets emerge, and then…the earthquake!! So much to take in and so much mystery. This has a touch of a Thriller and I loved everything about it. A must read!!

Once again Susan Meissner has written another heart-wrenching, heart-stopping historical novel that has managed to truly depict the events of the day, in this case, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Through her marvelous characters who wrap you up in their situations and emotions, her remarkable descriptions of this tragic event, and the unexpected finale, Ms. Meissner puts one in that fateful time and place walking over the rubble and seeing the sights as they must have been experienced by the sufferers of the devastation. The story she folds into the mix is original as well as inventive. After reading one of her novels, I am always searching for words to express what I am feeling. However, I always come up short. I guess that is why she is the writer and I am the reader!

Susan Meissner’s captivating heroine, Sophie, is the heart of this propulsive page-turner. Sophie creates a family from the remnants of one cruel man’s destructive choices. She is quietly strong, big hearted, and single-minded in her determination to protect the ones she loves. I gobbled this mystery up so quickly that I’m sure I’ll need to re-read in the future. A poignant & unpredictable story. Don’t miss this one, reader friends!

The Nature of Fragile Things
By Susan Meissner

Susan Meissner’s A Nature of Fragile Things is a wonderfully told story that completely immersed me into the early 1900’s San Francisco and into the lives of Sophie Whalen, an irish immigrant desperate to improve her impoverished life by answering a call for a mail-order bride and marry a man she only just met from San Francisco, a widower named Martin Hocking and his five year old daughter Kat. Sophie immediately develops a deep attachment with Kat and also slowly unpeels the situation she finds herself in. Martin’s odd behavior tells Sophie that something just does not feel right at all. A woman named Belinda shows up on their doorstep and things to start unravel with Sophie’s life and her world, literally too as the San Francisco rocks the city causing massive devastation and damage. in the midst of this amazing historical fiction novel is a well researched story about the time frame, and about female friendships, secrets, lies, love, and loss.

A masterfully written story that I highly recommend.

I love Historical Fiction, now put that front and center of a true historical event, and I am a very happy camper. Even if the story, the characters, the mere premise, is a sorrowful set-up. Author Meissner weave together women’s life, feelings, hope, and sorrows is what is called fiction but is all too much real in every detail. It’s not just Sophie, Kat and Martin’s story. It’s a lost generation’s story. And a well-done historical novel.

The Nature of Fragile Things opens with the transcript of Sophie Whalen Hocking being interviewed by Ambrose Logan, a U.S. Marshall, on November 6, 1906. At the outset, Meissner reveals that Sophie married Martin Hocking on March 10, 1905, and reported him missing six weeks after the catastrophic April 18, 1906, San Francisco earthquake. From there, the story is related via Sophie’s first-person narrative, which is interrupted occasionally by additional excerpts of the interview. The technique is highly effective, instantly pulling readers into a mystery concerning Sophie and Martin. Sophie’s narration opens in March 1905 — on the very day she arrives in San Francisco from New York City and is met at the ferry by Martin — and proceeds in a linear fashion as the timeline gradually catches up to the date of the interview and the two time periods merge.

Sophie had never met or spoken with Martin when she agreed to move to San Francisco, marry him, and care for Kat, the little girl who has barely spoken since losing her mother, Candace. Martin offers Sophie the chance to have what she has always wanted — a stable home and a child to love. Martin is strikingly handsome, with piercing eyes with which he seems to peer into Sophie’s very soul. She has been gazing at the picture he sent her and is relieved when she disembarks from the ferry and finds him waiting for her. He indeed looks just like his picture and smiles readily when he spots her. From there, they immediately proceed to City Hall where they are married in a quick, no-frills ceremony, although Martin does grant Sophie’s request that they purchase two photographs commemorating the occasion — one for Sophie’s mother back in Ireland and one to keep. They then go directly to the boarding house where Martin and Kat have been staying. There, Sophie meets Kat for the first time and the three of them continue on to the home Martin has purchased on Polk Street, a few blocks from Russian Hill. Sophie is delighted to see that it is large, comfortably furnished, and she has her own room. She made clear to Martin that the marriage would not be consummated until the two of them developed affection for each other. It was a term of their agreement to which Martin readily acceded. After all, his purpose in advertising for a wife was to provide a new mother for his daughter and be able to project the image of a successful businessman, rather than “a pathetic widower and father.” Martin explained that he worked for a life insurance company and traveled extensively on business. Sophie assumed that he didn’t seek out a romantic relationship because of his grief over losing Candace and desire to have “companionship and hot meals and a clean house but not romance. Not love.”

Sophie settles into her new home and quickly finds herself caring deeply for Kat. While Martin travels, they occupy themselves with walks around the city and gardening, and Kat begins to speak. At first, she utters only an occasional word, just above a whisper. But as the months pass, Sophie realizes how bright and intuitive Kat is, as Kat beings to speak full sentences, and determines, with Martin’s consent, to tutor her at home rather than send her to school. Sophie is gradually attracted to Martin and he does not rebuff her suggestion that they share a bed. But their physical relationship is devoid of intimacy — Martin does not even kiss Sophie. He remains aloof and standoffish, but Sophie is steadfastly convinced that he is wounded inside. He shows no warmth or tenderness to Kat.

As much as Sophie loves Kat and is thankful to be able to mother her — because, as she notes, she will never be able to give birth to a child — she is troubled by Martin’s secretive behavior. For instance, he keeps the drawers of his desk locked securely and when Sophie questions him, explaining that she attempted to look in the desk for a postage stamp and ink, he merely tells her to purchase whatever she needs from the stationer using the money he provides her to run the household. And one night Martin returns home and begins constructing a storage area in the boiler room, claiming that he has gone into business selling hair tonic with Candace’s cousin, Belinda. He warns Sophie not to touch the bottles he stores there.

The tension and pace of the story accelerate dramatically on one fateful night when Sophie finds a pregnant woman on the doorstep. She claims to be looking for her husband, James Bigelow, who was asked by Martin to do him a favor. But James never returned so Belinda has left the inn she owns and operates in (fictional) San Rafaela and journeyed to San Francisco in search of him after finding Martin’s address. When Sophie invites her in, and she sees Sophie and Martin’s wedding photo, the two women break into Martin’s desk . . . and form an unusual alliance that is cemented the following morning when the earthquake strikes.

Scientists estimate that the initial earthquake would have measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. It actually consisted of two shocks in quick succession, with the second being significantly stronger than the first and lasting for forty-five seconds. (Anyone who has experienced an earthquake can attest that forty-five seconds feels like a lifetime.) It was followed by numerous aftershocks. Between the initial earthquake and the resultant fires, about five square miles of San Francisco burned to the ground over the course of three days. Gas lines and water mains burst, leaving about twenty-eight thousand buildings in ruins and rendering four hundred thousand residents homeless. More than three thousand people died. Meissner conducted extensive research in an effort to portray the earthquake and its aftermath as accurately as possible. And she succeeds in conveying the terror that Sophie, Belinda, and her other characters experience, as well as their struggle to remain together and simply survive, as well as the toll it takes on little Kat.

Meissner credibly and compassionately illustrates how, armed with the truth, their circumstances bind Sophie and Belinda together, forging a friendship born of victimization and tragedy. But they refuse to remain victims. Rather, they are strong, determined women who know their own worth and are determined to be victorious. Sophie gradually reveals the secrets she has not shared with anyone, including why she left Ireland and is so adamant about keeping Kat with her, despite the obstacles she faces. Sophie, Belinda, and Kat are empathetic and likeable, and Meissner’s story-telling prowess ensures that readers become fully invested in their futures.

Meissner portrays the choices her characters make — some morally ambiguous — and the lengths to which they go not just to survive, but to protect and secure what is theirs, and carve out the future about which they dare to dream. The story resonates emotionally, and is full of shocking twists and revelations of dark secrets that compel it forward. Through the events she depicts, Meissner examines female friendships and what cements women together as a family who, in another time and place might have been moral enemies. She shows how each woman, in her own way, adapts to the reality of her plight and place in society, and refuses to be defined or limited by either. On display throughout the story is the depth and power of a woman to love and protect a child, even one to which she did not give birth, and Meissner posits how justice should be meted out – and by whom — making the book an excellent selection for book clubs.

Fans of historical fiction will find themselves completely engrossed in and mesmerized by The Nature of Fragile Things. It is an expertly crafted and lovingly-told homage to the human spirit, and the unbreakable bonds of a family formed by circumstances.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.

I love this author. This was just an excellent book about the San Francisco earthquake & fire in 1906. It had such an intensity in the characters showing real perseverance & strength in loss & tragic times.

This novel reminded me of those Russian Babushka dolls that nest inside each other. The characters have secrets that, with each revelation, only lead to more secrets. The setting–San Francisco, 1906–was perfect for the story, for all the clues and the relationships to work. Even the epilogue fit the story like the final piece of a puzzle that settles into place with a satisfying ‘click’. But this book is not specifically about the 1906 earthquake. It’s about a woman determined to protect a child, and even to repair what’s broken in her. That’s quite lovely.