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 … 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.
From the acclaimed author of The Last Year of the War and As Bright as Heaven comes a gripping novel about the bonds of friendship and mother love, and the power of female solidarity.
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Against the backdrop of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Susan Meissner pens the story of three women who with their combined strength rise above the ashes of destruction to rebuild their lives. I love how Ms. Meissner’s prose immerses me into the setting, experiencing the devastation of this disaster as if I was really there. This book is about hope rising out of darkness and the strength found in the bonds of friendship as three women with an unusual tie, face a common enemy. I was captivated from the first to the last page, enthralled with the plot twists that were delivered up to the very end. A strong choice for fans of historical fiction.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Wow this was a wonderful book and I really don’t want to let go of these characters! This novel had all of the elements that I look for in a great historical fiction and is a solid 5+ stars.
The Nature of Fragile Things has such a unique way to look at the devastating earthquake that took place in San Francisco in 1906. I have visited San Francisco at least 4 times many years ago and it was a beautiful city then. This book took me right into the time prior to and during this great earthquake. I was transported, right into some of the areas I knew including Golden Gate Park.
As the novel opens Sophie has just arrived from New York to California and is about to meet her future husband, Martin Hocking. She answered an ad for a woman to marry him and also care for his 5 year old daughter. Sophie’s life in New York was inhospitable for immigrants at that time, there were just too many. Her tenement “was just a shared room with sagging mattresses, a place where dreams . . . unravel”
Sophie and Martin married as soon as they could get to the courthouse. Martin has a beautiful home and he introduces her to Kat, who has not spoken since her mother died. They form a bond over time that becomes stronger with. Her relationship with Martin is very “distant” even when he is at home and not traveling for work.
Then as the blurb states a woman appears on Sophie’s doorstep, her name is Belinda and these two will discover some incredible secrets about Martin!!
After this the story really explodes with the sounds, smells and visions of what it would be like to try to find shelter during an earthquake. The people were not prepared in any way but the police helped as many as they could find shelter. WHAT WASN’T KNOCKED DOWN BY THE EARTHQUAKE WAS CONSUMED IN THE FIRES THAT RAGED FOR DAYS.
Through the eyes of our main protagonist, we will envision what these events would look like, we can almost smell the fires and the smoke which permeated everything for weeks. Watch the ashes continuing to fall like snow throughout the city. The author’s notes are filled with additional research and information on the earthquake which today would have registered “a magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale.”
For Sophie, Belinda and Kat their trials are just beginning. They will unlock Martin’s secrets and are resolved to stay together as a group
To divulge any more would spoil the story for the reader. I enjoyed this book tremendously and can highly recommend it.
This novel will publish on February 2, 2021
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.