If you embrace the saying, revenge is a dish best served cold then you will love this historical novel by Megan Chance.
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| A Recommended Read |
Although this author has many titles to her name this is the first novel of hers I have read and I loved it. The novel is divided into 3 parts. The first part introduces us to May Kimble who has been living in Brooklyn, New York until after her mother's death. She receives a letter from her mother's sister of whom she had no idea even existed and is welcomed into the arms of her newfound family in San Francisco in 1904.
She has lots of questions, but receives no answers to them and is unfortunately too naive to realise that she is being manipulated. She suspects things are amiss, but doesn't act on her instincts or her laudanum addled aunt's ravings at her to go home.
Part one culminates in the death of her aunt and the ultimate betrayal from her family and May realises just how she's been played.
Part two is terrifying as May learns how to survive in a place that her mother hadn't even thought to prepare her for. She learns her lessons quickly and uses her knowledge to improve her conditions while thinking of her revenge. Why do I call it terrifying? It's certainly not a scary, horror book, but it's terrifying as to how easy it was in 1904 for this to happen and it's something that I have read about in other historical books and novels alike.
Part Three is called Retribution and begins on April 18th, 1906. For any American history buffs out there you may recall that this is the date of the great San Francisco earthquake. The earthquake gives May a chance to escape where she was and she takes advantage of that.
May proves to be very resourceful and brave. You really see how she has grown since arriving in California. She plots her revenge and also falls in love (well, I believe the seeds for falling in love were planted in part one, but now she is ready).
The ultimate revenge doesn't come in the way that May and her paramour planned, but was the perfect moment and absolutely embodied the saying, revenge is a dish best served cold.
I really enjoyed this historical novel and a little glimpse into San Francisco's turn of the century society and also how the earthquake was dealt with by the people on the ground - the author portrayed the confusion that would have been about really well.
I recommend this read for anyone that enjoys historical fiction with a strong heroine (although she was frustratingly naive in the first part, she certainly grew into a strong heroine). I will certainly be reading other books from this author.
This book was available as part of Amazon Prime - I love Amazon Prime as not only does it have Kindle books, it has a number of television series that I enjoy on it and also gives me free shipping when I purchase anything - find out more about it here.
It is also available as part of Kindle Unlimited which is great if you enjoy reading, I started with a free trial and am now in my second month of it. Definitely worth the free trial, especially over these holidays when there aren't as many get together as usual - more time for reading!
