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Karen White, Beatriz Williams,
Lauren Willig
Penguin
1/19/2016 / ISBN 9780451474629
Women's Fiction / Literature / Family Saga
Reviewed
by Elise Cooper
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The
Forgotten Room
is a collaboration by authors Karen White, Beatriz Williams,
and Lauren Willig. This current bestseller is part historical
novel, part mystery, and an exploration of relationships throughout
generations. The chapters alternate between timelines spanning
about fifty years, from the 1890s Gilded Age, the 1920s Roaring
Twenties, to the end of World War II. The focus on a particular
family and a single location makes the transition between periods
very smooth.
The authors mixed well the ingredients to make a wonderful story:
three different narratives, three different timelines, three
different relationships, one building that turned into three
different locales, and one mystery that affects three different
generations. The plot begins with critically wounded Captain
Cooper Ravenal begging for Dr. Kate Schuyler to save his leg.
While the Captain recovers in a private hospital on Manhattan’s
Upper East Side Kate is drawn into a complex mystery. The miniature
portrait the Captain is carrying strongly resembles Kate and
has the same ruby pendant she inherited from her mother. As
the Captain and doctor pursue answers they find that there is
a connection between three generations of women in Kate’s
family to three different men in his family, linked to a room
in a Gilded Age mansion.
Beatriz Williams had a connection to the building since it used
to be owned by her husband’s family. She commented, “This
used to be a breathtaking mansion. It was our inspiration since
it started out as a private mansion for an industrialist and
has now become a hospital. When we looked around we saw that
every floor was more inspiring than the next. To get to the
top floor there was this spiral staircase. There was this amazing
room now used for storage that had depictions of Saint George
and the Dragon. We started to think who would have lived here.
Anyone who has read my book A Hundred Summers might remember
the character Aunt Julie. She is based on a real character that
grew up in this house.”
The building in the 1890s was a mansion where Kate’s grandmother,
Olive Van Alen, worked as a maid. She is determined to get revenge
on behalf of her architect father against the owner who stiffed
him after the building was completed. Kate’s mother, Lucy
Young, came to the building in the 1920s, now a boarding house,
to find the truth about her paternity. Kate also seeks personal
answers while working in the building, now a hospital, during
World War II. The book shows how choices, events from the past
as well as fate has an effect on future generations.
Lauren Willig noted, “We all have heard stories about
our parents’ past. These stories were passed down by generations,
like the ruby necklace, and have been used to define ourselves.
We don’t know if they are true, but they have become the
truth. A part of us has been shaped by our past, even before
we were born. The epilogue represented how our past affects
our present. The loop keeps on going. How a single choice can
affect generations down the road.”
An issue explored, which anyone can relate to, can true love
overcome necessity. Olive and her soul mate Harry were from
different economic backgrounds where many of the wealthy did
not marry for love. Her daughter Lucy faced a similar situation,
marrying someone she only felt comfortable with, and then there
was Kate. Would she do the same thing as the past generations,
giving up the love of her life?
Women empowerment is also shown through the different timelines.
Realistically portrayed, women at times were not seen as equals.
Yet, with each generation they gained within society and became
more professionally acceptable: Olive a maid, Lucy an executive
assistant, and Kate a medical doctor. A powerful quote from
the book emphasizes this, “I find a woman with brains
enormously attractive and not threatening in the least.”
Karen White stated, “We were all interested in the impact
of the past an how that has affected women. Given the constraints
of society each mother wanted more for their daughters than
they themselves had. Kate was taught to be career oriented.
The reason we gave her that profession was that WWII left a
gap in the amount of doctors. After reading some great Memoirs
on female WWII doctors we wrote Kate as a doctor who gets push
back and fights to find her way to push the envelope.”
Father/daughter relationships are an important backstory to
the plot. Olive spent a year trying to find evidence to clear
her father and destroy the family who brought shame to her dad.
Lucy felt lost after her father died and wondered if the man
she adored, admired, and respected was indeed her dad. And Kate
remembers the happy times she sat on her father’s lap
without a care in the world.
The Forgotten Room is a riveting and insightful book.
With captivating characters, an intricate plot line, and just
missed opportunities it shows how people can be affected by
the choices they make. An added bonus is the realism of the
settings and the behaviors of the times. Anyone wanting a captivating
novel should read this story. |
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