The Forgotten Room

November 15, 2015
Three generations of women find themselves on the cusp of love in a collaboration among bestselling authors White (The Sound of Glass, 2015, etc.), Williams (Tiny Little Thing, 2015, etc.), and Willig (The Lure of the Moonflower, 2015, etc.). Kate Schuyler is one of the only female doctors at Stornaway Hospital in Manhattan during World War II when she meets the seriously wounded Capt. Cooper Ravenel. In the midst of his fever, he calls her by the name Victorine and inexplicably seems to recognize her. When she goes digging through the captain's personal effects, she's shocked to discover a small portrait that bears a striking resemblance to her. The novel goes on to unspool a half-century of history through a particular place and precious objects in the lives of Kate and two other narrators. Fifty years earlier, Stornaway Hospital was the Pratt family mansion and then, later, a women's boardinghouse. That small portrait is not of Kate but of her grandmother. Alternating with Kate's narrative are the first-person stories of Olive Van Alan, set in the 1890s, and Lucy Young, set in the 1920s. Olive is working as a maid for the Pratts in order to find justice for her father, the spurned architect of the Pratt mansion. She's used to keeping secrets, both to accomplish her goal of finding evidence that her father was cheated out of his payment and then later to hide her budding relationship with the Pratts' son, Harry. Years later, Lucy too is drawn to the Pratts, hoping to learn if she is actually one of them. With all three stories taking place in the same location, the novel is filled with both coincidences and parallels, the past finding ways to repeat itself until it reaches a satisfying conclusion. Even with three authors, the story is seamless, and the transitions between narrators are smooth. Focusing on both a family and a single location throughout time makes for a compelling and emotionally worthwhile novel.

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Starred review from December 15, 2015
Three authors (Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig) each take a character in this tale of three generations of women who find their destinies wrapped up in a secret room found at the top of the Pratt mansion, a Manhattan Gilded Age home. In 1892, Olive, the daughter of the architect who built the house, disguises herself as a servant in order to infiltrate the family and avenge her father's suicide; her daughter, Lucy, comes to the house under false pretense as well in 1920, determined to unlock the secret of her birth. Finally, in 1944, Lucy's daughter, Kate, is a doctor working in the house, which has been converted to a war hospital, when a wounded soldier arrives, carrying a miniature portrait of a woman who looks exactly like Kate. As the stories unfold and intertwine, it's clear that each of the women must work to uncover the truth about the family secrets that haunt them. The men who come into their lives are inexplicably bound to them by destiny, and the authors do a wonderful job of slowly teasing out the details while keeping the different story lines moving along. Strong female characters, swoon-worthy romance, and red herrings abound in this marvelous genre blend of romance, historical fiction, and family saga.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2015

Three's a charm as New York Times best-selling authors White (A Long Time Gone), Beatriz Williams (A Hundred Summers), and Lauren Willig (the "Pink Carnation" series) join forces to craft a novel that opens in 1945 New York City. There, Dr. Kate Schuyler meets Capt. Cooper Ravenal, who's recuperating at a private hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and is drawn into a mystery linking three generations of women in her family to one gracious room in a Gilded Age mansion.Carrie Brown writes historical fiction based on real-life figures, while Taylor Brown revisits the Civil WarAlafair Burke breaks out with a creepy thriller, while Chelsea Cain delivers her second Kick

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