Family Drama / Romance
1920s
USA Kansas City
‘The
Roaring Twenties. Kansas City. One woman's transformative journey of love,
betrayal, and redemption. From the day Jean Ball lands a job at the elegant
Empire hotel, she quickly learns the secrets of the entitled class. Dazzled by
a Roaring Twenties society on the cusp of radical change, this naive and
innocent young woman finds herself dancing, bobbing her hair, and falling for
Elden Whitcomb, the handsome son of the wealthy hotel owner. The stakes rise
when the Whitcombs’ powerful secrets are revealed and loving Elden comes at a
price – one that may be too high for Jean to pay. Shattered and alone, Jean's
in the battle of her life in a city alive with romance, smoky Speakeasies, jazz
music and scandal, but divided by race and class. With the help and
encouragement of influential women, Jean may find what she has always needed,
though her choices could echo through generations. But will the man she trusted
and so fiercely loves redeem himself?’
I found the culture and the historical
identity of Kansas City in the ‘20s fascinating – not least because in my
naievity as a Brit I had always thought of Kansas as the place where the Yellow
Brick Road led to Oz and tornadoes swept the land leaving everything flattened,
(such is the fictional influence of the movies!) I did not even realise that Kansas
City is on the border of Missouri and Kansas (I had to look at Google Maps.)
But that is one of the delights of reviewing a novel I perhaps would not have
otherwise picked up –discovering a new and unfamiliar location was an utter
delight!
Added to the welcome and interesting
personal geography lesson, was a superb story of a young woman’s journey from almost
childlike innocence to full womanhood. We journeyed with her through the start
of the jazz age, prohibition, the imbalance of poverty and wealth, prejudice, and
the enormous changes that occurred during the years of the ‘20s. Jean, the lead
character, falls in love, is betrayed and struggles, but survives. This is a
story of the hopes, dreams and traumas we all face, the author skilfully brings
her fictional character’s experiences vividly to life, creating a very
believable and enjoyable tale. What’s more, this is a debut novel – so
an author to watch, I think
© Ellen Hill
Thank you for this review! I am sharing it out !!!
ReplyDeleteOur pleasure Denitta - and thank you for sharing!
DeleteI didn't need convincing to read this book, but great review ;-)
ReplyDelete