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Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 19, 2016
Pages: 387
Setting: New York City
Synopsis
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.
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.
Review
I received a copy of this book through Penguin's First to Read program in exchange for an honest review.
The Forgotten Room masterfully weaves together the stories of three women from different generations, who not only share DNA, but also a room in a mansion that was never theirs. At first, I had a little trouble keeping the three ladies straight, but after about the sixth chapter I felt like I had a pretty good handle on who they were and keeping them separate became much easier. In spite of that issue, I liked how the story rotated through the women's lives, changing characters with each chapter. I also felt the authors did a wonderful job of blending their tales together. It certainly didn't seem as if this book were written by three different authors.
I enjoyed the way the mystery built from chapter to chapter, giving us little clues but more questions in the process. I was made to believe things, some of them true, some not. I felt triumphant for figuring some things out long before the characters did, and like a fool when a reveal proved me wrong.
One of the underlying premises of this story seemed a little odd and a bit disturbing to me. There was more than one occasion when I thought things were going to happen that really shouldn't happen, and it bothered me on a primal level.
Overall I give The Forgotten Room 4 out of 5 stars because it had me hooked by the mystery until the end, but the characters did blend together a little at first. - Katie
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About the Authors
Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of The Sound of Glass, A Long Time Gone, and The Time Between, among other novels.
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and Overseas.
Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of The Lure of the Moonflower, That Summer, and The Other Daughter, among other novels.
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and Overseas.
Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of The Lure of the Moonflower, That Summer, and The Other Daughter, among other novels.
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