The Summer Wives Beatriz Williams

Published: William Morrow
Date:  July 10th 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 384
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:

In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island in Long Island Sound as a naive eighteen year old, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. Although a graduate of the exclusive Foxcroft Academy in Virginia, Miranda has always lived on the margins of high society.

When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda is catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister—all long legs and world-weary bravado, engaged to a wealthy Island scion—is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society.

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams was a read that I sank into and have to say really liked. It ranges over three time periods - 1930, 1951 and 1969.  It is told mostly from the viewpoint of Miranda, however their is also the story of Bianca.  We go from one time period to another - backwards and forwards.

That could be somewhat disconcerting, however if it is carefully read and characters and events tracked until the jigsaw comes together then it returns a rewarding read. As I kept notes I put what was happening together so there is no surprise much at the end, but the satisfaction of seeing how it all turns out.

It is set on an island where there are the local people - fishermen and then the summer people. The rich people, who eat, drink and make merry and don't intermingle much or at all with the local people. Miranda comes to this island as a teen when her mother remarries on of the summer men. She finds she has a step sister Isabel. I did think it a little odd that she changed in a way I wouldn't expect. 

And her step father - what of him, well he has a lot to do with the characters in this story and just to say I didn't like him.  So many lives intertwine on the island, and not least of all Joseph the young man we first meet saving a fisherman.

To discuss what happens would be to take away from the reader the opportunity to follow the twists and turns, the mystery, the way characters relate to each other.

The writing is beautiful, the issues sometimes sad, yet here is a tale of redemption and hope as well. 

The Wicked City. Beatriz Williams

Published: William Morrow
Date: 17th January 2017
Format: Kindle
Pages: 384 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating:
              

New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams recreates the New York City of A Certain Age in this deliciously spicy adventure that mixes past and present and centers on a Jazz Age love triangle involving a rugged Prohibition agent, a saucy redheaded flapper, and a debonair Princetonian from a wealthy family.

When she discovers her husband cheating, Ella Hawthorne impulsively moves out of their SoHo loft and into a small apartment in an old Greenwich Village building. Her surprisingly attractive new neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement at night. Tenants have reported strange noises after midnightólaughter, clinking glasses, jazz pianoóeven though the space has been empty for decades. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the place hid a speakeasy.

In 1924, Geneva "Gin" Kelly, a smart-mouthed flapper from the hills of western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin becomes entangled with Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson, who persuades her to help him catch her stepfather Duke Kelly, one of Appalachiaís most notorious bootleggers.

Headstrong and independent, Gin is no weak-kneed fool. So how can she be falling in love with the taciturn, straight-arrow Revenue agent when sheís got Princeton boy Billy Marshall, the dashing son of society doyenne Theresa Marshall, begging to make an honest woman of her? While anything goes in the Roaring Twenties, Ginís adventures will shake proper Manhattan society to its foundations, exposing secrets that shock even this free-spirited redheadósecrets that will echo from Park Avenue to the hollers of her Southern hometown.

As Ella discovers more about the basement speakeasy, she becomes inspired by the spirit of her exuberant predecessor, and decides to live with abandon in the wicked city too. . . .

Wicked City is set mainly in the 1920's with a smaller section of it set in1998.  In 1998 we meet Ella - a scion of the Schyler family, recently separated from her husband Patrick after finding him in a very compromising position. She finds herself pulled into some mysterious goings on in the basement laundry - the sound of jazz from a speakeasy at night.

Back in the 1920's we meet Gin - Geneva Kelly, a young woman with a kind of double life, who frequents that speakeasy in New York. It is the time of prohibition and Gin finds herself caught up in the whole booze trafficking business. She is innocent, but her greasy slime ball stepfather is not, growing a big business in her old home place in the Appalachian mountains. 

Gin is friends with a young gentleman Billy, but soon she finds herself interacting with Oliver Anson, a person who is tracking down all those who work in the drink trafficking business and especially Duke Kelly.

I liked the story, Gin grew on me as the story progressed, she is a brave determined woman, looking for answers. She is very loyal to those she loves. And it turns out she has some great skills, although she has experienced hard times.  

There is plenty of action, the plot moves along well and the link between the two eras is fairly well done, but I did expect to see something more in that link. I do have a few reservations about the book because I felt there were objects and happenings that got no final explanation or resolution except well... "let's let it go and move on". I want more than that! I also flipped the page and found the end. And I said aloud "What?" It left me wanting more and disappointed. However this is the beginning of a series. Perhaps there will be more about these characters. I can hope!

In spite of those reservations I did enjoy the story, getting a peek at those Prohibition days and what it led to. Strange times. It kept me turning the pages and I enjoyed it. Will I read the next one? Of course.

Beatriz Williams

A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz Williams spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons, before her career as a writer took off. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore. Find out more about Beatriz at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Along the Infinite Sea. Beatriz Williams

Along the Infinite Sea
Beatriz Williams
Published: Penguin Group Putnam
Date: 3rd November 2015
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 464
Genre: General Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley



The Infinite Sea is a sweeping story of two women that ranges from the late 1930's and into the 1960's. It soon pulled me in to their lives and intrigues.

Annabelle is a young nineteen year old living in France with her father when she is pushed into helping out a Jewish German - Stefan Silverman when he is shot. An attraction springs up. However circumstances happen that sees her being paired with Johann von Kleist, a German Baron working with the German army.

Fast forward to 1966 and we meet up with Pepper Shuyler, she has just sold a 1936 Mercedes roadster to Annabelle Domerich, who once drove in this car to escape Germany in 1938. Pepper needs the $300 000 she sells the car for to help her with the child soon to be born. She believes she can't turn to her parents for help, nor does she want the interference of the married senator who is the father of her baby.  Annabelle who was once in a similar situation to Pepper invites her back to her home at Cocoa Beach.

I really liked both Annabelle and Pepper. Both of them are strong women who deal with the challenges that life throws at them. I loved both their stories and groaned when I was dragged from their story into the others, yet was eager to go there too. I read into the night to find out who did Annabelle eventually live with at Cocoa Beach. I thought I knew and then I didn't, so cleverly done is the story, clues dropped were at times a little misleading, although perfectly correct as well.

The less you know about this book, the more your enjoyment. I didn't read the blurb before and really am very happy I didn't, when I glanced over it after actually reading the book. In it is possibly a clue to how it might have ended up for Annabelle and quite frankly the suspense and mystery surrounding this book is its strength for me. (I am a bit of a back of the book reader, but on a Kindle book while I could do it, the temptation is far less! So happy I didn't look!)

I hadn't read the other two Schuyler sister books previously and I don't think it mattered that much. (I will though!) The danger of the late 1930's for the Jews in Germany, the question of who is Annabelle's husband in the 1960s, the characters themselves and the clever transitioning from one time period to another, Pepper's resilience, Annabelle's compassion and love all combined to make this a book to embrace and enjoy.