A Proper Pursuit

September 3, 2007
Christy award-winning historical novelist Austin delivers her strongest offering yet, a coming-of-age story set in late-19th-century Illinois. The great strength of this novel comes from the first-person narrator's charming voice: 20-year-old Violet Hayes is distressed to learn that her father is remarrying-and that her mother, whom Violet believed lay recovering from a mysterious illness in a sanitarium somewhere, had in fact simply abandoned her family and filed for divorce. To escape a stepmother-to-be she can't stand, Violet heads to Chicago to stay with her grandmother and great-aunts. Although she's recently graduated from a genteel school for young ladies, it's in Chicago that Violet's real education begins. One great-aunt tries to persuade her to join the suffrage movement, while another introduces Violet to elite society and urges her to catch a wealthy husband. Her grandmother, who takes her cues from Jane Addams, introduces Violet to the world of revivalist Christianity and inner-city good works, prompting Violet to re-examine her own faith. Two questions drive the plot: will Violet find her mother, and will she encounter true love? Readers will enjoy accompanying Violet as she discovers the answers, her calling and her adult self.

September 1, 2007
When young Violet Hayes hears that her father plans to marry the ghastly widow Maude O'Neill, she sets off for Chicago in 1893 under the guise of visiting the World's Fair, but Violet's real purpose is to find her mother, who had divorced her father years ago, and to prevent her father's ridiculous marriage. A three-time Christy Award winner ("Fire by Night; Candle in the Darkness; Hidden Places") and one of the genre's best historical fiction novelists, Austin delivers another agreeable saga that draws on America's rich, turbulent history and features distinctive characters. This sure winner will please readers who enjoy high-spirited, adventurous heroines and vivid details of bygone eras. Highly recommended. Austin lives in Chicago.

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