Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig





What They Say.....New York Times bestselling authors Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig present a masterful collaboration—a rich, multigenerational novel of love and loss that spans half a century....

1945: When the critically wounded Captain Cooper Ravenal is brought to a private hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, young Dr. Kate Schuyler is drawn into a complex mystery that connects three generations of women in her family to a single extraordinary room in a Gilded Age mansion.

Who is the woman in Captain Ravenel's portrait miniature who looks so much like Kate?  And why is she wearing the ruby pendant handed down to Kate by her mother?  In their pursuit of answers, they find themselves drawn into the turbulent stories of Gilded Age Olive Van Alen, driven from riches to rags, who hired out as a servant in the very house her father designed, and Jazz Age Lucy Young, who came from Brooklyn to Manhattan in pursuit of the father she had never known.  But are Kate and Cooper ready for the secrets that will be revealed in the Forgotten Room? 

The Forgotten Room, set in alternating time periods, is a sumptuous feast of a novel brought to vivid life by three brilliant storytellers.



What I Say.....Oh my goodness.  I could NOT put this book down.  I have read Karen White before and liked her, read Beatriz Williams and LOVED her, and have never read Lauren Willis but will now be looking for her.  

I assume each one wrote one of the storylines as this was the story of three generations connected by the same history and the same mansion, all in incredibly different ways.

The story spans generations, and goes before the Second World War, to the time of upstairs/downstairs mansions, the servants and the families that they serve.  I always find these types of stories so fascinating, as you see the class divide, but how many people crossed those lines for love. 

Olive's story was my favorite.  She wanted so badly to believe that love could break down the walls, but her doubt was her own worst enemy.

I don't want to give any spoilers away because I want everyone to read this for themselves.  It was very reminiscent of one of my all time favorite books, The Shell Seekers.  I am such a sucker for WWII stories, complete with star-crossed love.  In that era, people were more concerned about doing what was right rather than doing whatever they wanted.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy all the Karen White, Lauren Willig and Beatriz William's books.


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