Ms. Kent is a very descriptive and engaging writer. Her painstaking research is obvious. However, the book is extremely sluggish in the beginning, and even later on. She gets bogged down in too many details and the story doesn't go anywhere for a long time. That said, it is …more an interesting read and probably more historical than fiction. This author is talented and no doubt has much more to share. What the book really needed was a good editor. (less)