The Nature of Fragile Things
By: Susan Meissner
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.
Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.
The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear.
From the acclaimed author of The Last Year of the War and As Bright as Heaven comes a gripping novel about the bonds of friendship and mother love, and the power of female solidarity.
First Impression
I’ve read a few other novels by Meissner and enjoyed each of them. But lately, I haven’t been in much of a mood for historical fiction, so I was a little hesitant to agree to reading this one. The cover is also pretty bland, so I don’t think it’s one I would’ve picked up off the shelf. The summary ultimately is what got be though. I was curious about a woman who would marry a stranger and how her life would intertwine with the other women.
What I thought
Wow. This book was so good. It sucked me in and I flew through it.
Sophie has immigrated to the US from Ireland. She is living in squalor in New York City when she sees an ad from a man in San Francisco looking for a bride. He is widowed and has a child who needs caring for. Sophie sees it as her only way out of New York, as well as a promise of comfort and a potential of love. Until a pregnant woman shows up on her doorstep and everything she thought to be true is upturned.
The idea of Sophie marrying a stranger intrigued me. How bad must your life be that you’re willing to move across a new country to marry someone you’ve never met and immediately become a mother to a 5 year old? Martin, the man that Sophia marries, is a mystery and immediately untrustworthy. I was curious from the start why he wanted to marry Sophie because the reasons he gave were not believable.
When Belinda shows up on Sophie’s doorstep 8 months pregnant, her world is shaken. Then it literally becomes shaken by a massive earthquake. The mystery element of Belinda, Martin, and Sophie added in with the action of a city falling and burning to the ground made me unable to put down this book. The book opens with Sophia being interviews about reporting Martin’s disappearance after the earthquake, so I needed to know what happened to him, how Sophie and Kat (the daughter) survived. There were so many questions that needed answering and every page kept me intrigued.
I think what surprised me the most about this book was the pace. It moved quickly and I flew through it. a lot of the time with historical fiction novels, even though I enjoy every minute they take me a little longer to get through. This one I continually forgot it was even set in the early 1900s. Every bit of the story wan engaging and I grew attached to Sophie and Kat.
This book was a great balance of mystery, action, and history. It was a story of empowered women in a time when they were not given much power. This may be my favorite book that Meissner has written. It sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. I’d probably lean more towards giving it a 4.5/5 than a true 4. If you are stuck in a reading rut or need a well written palate cleansing book, I highly recommend checking this one out.