In 1910 New York City is a study in contrasts. The very wealthy enjoy
balls, expensive shops, and live in extravagant mansions. In contrast,
the very poor, many of the immigrants, live in tenements eking out a
living often making clothes for the wealthy.
Vera Garland, scion
of a wealthy family, is struggling to make a name for herself as a
reporter. This is the era when women reporters were relegated to
society news. As Vee Swann, Vera strives to expose the abuses of
poverty. She’s injured working on one story which puts her on sick
leave. In that interval, her beloved father dies. She is devastated
and even more so when she learns that a blackmailing editor was
responsible for hastening his death.
Vera knows Cartier, has seen the Hope Diamond, and heard the stories with which
Cartier markets the jewel. She hatches a plan to take down the
editor using the
hype surrounding the diamond.
As usual in M.J.
Rose novels, the background is lush and the details accurate. You get
a superb view of the contrasts in New York in the early 1900s. Vera
is emblematic of her age. She wants to succeed in her profession and
doesn’t want to be forced into a marriage that would bar her from
the working world.
The Hope Diamond is
famous for it’s mysterious past including rumors of bad luck for
the owners. Rose deftly uses this background to give Vera a plan to
avenge her father’s death. Surprisingly, in the process she finds
love.
I received this book
from Atria Books for this review.
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