Yvonne

Belle da Costa Greene and Belle Marion Greener, J. P. Morgan's personal librarian, is a real person. She is revealed in this book through all the experiences and nuances of living in the early 1900's. The authors do a fabulous job of incorporating historical racial tensions through the diverse characters in the book. Belle is almost palpable in her decisions and actions. This is a story, and she is a person, that remain with you. Hopefully, everyone sees past skin color and sees the real person. I know that's a good prayer.

Kate Quinn develops characters, whose personalities have strong qualities, unique backgrounds with both predictable and unpredictable actions. This story begins with part of the climax and develops in dated chapters that move back and forth over several years.
Kate Quinn is an excellent writer, who keeps you engaged, surprised, and brings her characters right into your life. This is another one of her excellent books.

I would recommend this book to a young book club, whose interest is in fantasy. Our senior book club would not enjoy reading this particular genre. I was totally surprised when the real story setting was revealed. I didn't see it coming... The short chapters about specific characters are a good technique to make the reader focus on each character. The character development of Victoria and Andrew is missing any foundation to make the plot plausible. As Victoria moves through the story, her persona and actions are incompatible. Spoilers are not allowed but having Miss Prim, Proper, and Person-in-charge clean disgusting messes and scale fire escapes was totally unbelievable. Arthur is a one-dimensional character. Callum was a well-developed character and consistently evolved throughout the story. I liked the different characters and wanted to see how the author ended their stories!