Title: Secrets of Sloane House
Author: Shelley Gray
Publisher: Zondervan
Market: Christian
Genre: Fiction (mystery and romance)
Series: The
Chicago World’s Fair Mystery Series Book 1
Length: 328 pages
Pub. Date: July 8, 2014
Description (from Amazon):
Against the
backdrop of the 1893 World’s Fair, a young woman finds employment with an
illustrious Chicago family—a family who may guard the secret of her sister’s
disappearance.
Sloane House
is among the most gilded mansions of Gilded Age Chicago. Rosalind Perry, the
new housemaid, pours the morning coffee before the hard gaze of her mistress.
“It’s
simple, Rosalind,” she says. “I am Veronica Sloane, heiress to one of the
country’s greatest fortunes. You are simply one in a long line of unsuitable
maids.”
Back on the
farm in Wisconsin, Rosalind’s plan had seemed logical: Move to Chicago. Get
hired on at Sloane House. Discover what transpired while her sister worked as a
maid there—and follow the clues to why she disappeared.
Now, as a
live-in housemaid to the Sloanes, Rosalind realizes her plan had been woefully
simple-minded.
She was
ignorant of the hard, hidden life of a servant in a big, prominent house; of
the divide between the Sloane family and the people who served them; and most
of all, she had never imagined so many people could live in such proximity and
keep such dark secrets.
Yet, while
Sloane House is daunting, the streets of Chicago are downright dangerous. The
World’s Fair has brought a new kind of crime to the city . . . and a lonely young
woman is always at risk. But when Rosalind accepts the friendship of Reid
Armstrong, the handsome young heir to a Chicago silver fortune, she becomes an
accidental rival to Veronica Sloane.
As Rosalind
continues to disguise her kinship to the missing maid—and struggles to appease
her jealous mistress—she probes the dark secrets of Sloane House and comes ever
closer to uncovering her sister’s mysterious fate. A fate that everyone in the
house seems to know . . . but which no one dares to name.
My Review:
I selected
this book because of the historical Midwestern theme. The book’s cover is unique with the two
triangles (two paths, sisters, outcomes, and two sides of Chicago). I have previously read and enjoyed books by Gray.
This book is
about the journey of a young woman who lives on a farm in Wisconsin, and she
travels to Chicago, which is made larger by the World’s Fair, in search of her
missing, more vibrant sister. This
journey also illustrates the changes that take place in Rosalind. She is changed by her experiences in the
showy home of the very wealthy Sloane family.
Rosalind is a likeable character, and her immaturity shows in some of
her decisions. Although I enjoyed her
character, I didn’t connect with her.
The romance
in the book was a bit surprising. Reid
was wealthy and had one foot in society and the other foot in the working
class. He was her go-to guy in Chicago,
but the romance was developed rather suddenly without many clues alluding to
their mutual attraction. There were a
few times that I noticed Reid’s appreciation of how slim Rosalind was. The attraction had to go beyond the physical,
but it wasn’t shown through dialogue or description.
To say that
this book has a dark side is an understatement.
However, I don’t think it was unrealistic to show an extremely wealthy
family believing that they are above the law.
It was sad to read how the wealthy can destroy people who are not, and the
poor are treated as if they are sub-humans. It was also sad to read the devastating effects
wealthy men may have had on wealthy women.
Yes, this novel has a dark side.
I didn’t like the injustice in the book.
Sadly, the injustice is undoubtedly factual. I would have liked to see people be
prosecuted for their crimes or some sort of happy ending for the evil situations. There was also backbiting amongst the poor,
demonstrating their need to survive over a need to connect with other people.
I would
recommend this book to anyone over age 18 who enjoys a bit of a darker read
with Christian undertones. If this were
a movie, it could be rated PG-13 if the scenes were alluded to but not shown. If dark scenes were shown, it would be rated
R.
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