I raced through this new book set before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake:
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meiessner
The location and topic were new to me within historical fiction. And I love San Francisco.
Sophie, an Irish immigrant, has been unhappily living in New York before she answers an ad for a “mail-order” bride for a San Francisco widower. This alone would be interesting enough to make for a book! Upon arrival, she finds her new husband polite but aloof and quickly becomes deeply attached to his five-year-old daughter. But just as she’s becoming suspicious of her new arrangement and makes some startling discoveries, the earthquake hits! I appreciated the descriptions of the aftermath while following this dramatic story.
This book reminded me of another I recently enjoyed, where the stories of three women become intertwined during a natural disaster and my most recent recommendation about a shipwreck.
This is a book about women sticking together and would be great for a book club!