Author: Marie Benedict
Published: January 16th 2018 by Sourcebooks Landmark
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 288 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
History will never know what caused industrialist Andrew Carnegie to change direction and reinvent himself, yet Marie Benedict gives her own fictionalized account regarding an otherwise invisible member of the household staff prompting a steel magnate to building a library system so that a working class man could gain knowledge that had only been made available to the wealthy.
Clara Kelley, traveling in steerage from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1863, is mistaken for another Clara that had died during the voyage. The original Clara Kelley was a trained lady’s maid and with deception and a desperate need to send money back home to her family, the stand in Clara takes on the position tending to the intimidating Margaret Carnegie.
Clara is attracted to and intrigued by eldest son Andrew and though there are sparks of the cruel man that he can be when it comes to the steel industry, she is willing to put that aside as long as she can learn from him. She can never forget her position, or her secret, without risking her family back in Ireland, yet Andrew gives her a brief glimpse of what can be hers if only she will allow herself. All that comes crashing down when Margaret Carnegie discovers Clara’s truth and she is forced to flee into the night without a final word to Andrew.
This was a strange combination for me. The author, Marie Benedict, put in backstory, yet the book came across as shallow with no true feel of the characters. There with too much repetition and filler to the point that I wondered if this would have been a better short story than a full-length novel.
Clara Kelley, traveling in steerage from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1863, is mistaken for another Clara that had died during the voyage. The original Clara Kelley was a trained lady’s maid and with deception and a desperate need to send money back home to her family, the stand in Clara takes on the position tending to the intimidating Margaret Carnegie.
Clara is attracted to and intrigued by eldest son Andrew and though there are sparks of the cruel man that he can be when it comes to the steel industry, she is willing to put that aside as long as she can learn from him. She can never forget her position, or her secret, without risking her family back in Ireland, yet Andrew gives her a brief glimpse of what can be hers if only she will allow herself. All that comes crashing down when Margaret Carnegie discovers Clara’s truth and she is forced to flee into the night without a final word to Andrew.
This was a strange combination for me. The author, Marie Benedict, put in backstory, yet the book came across as shallow with no true feel of the characters. There with too much repetition and filler to the point that I wondered if this would have been a better short story than a full-length novel.
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