This had some really interesting parts, but the ending went on WAY too long. It felt like there were just too many story lines and by the time you get about 3/4 of the way through, fatigue sets in. I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for a novel, but good lord, no one has this many huge events happen to them in such a short time span.
We have:
1. Violet and Graham's struggling marriage,
2. Violet's mother-in-law is gored to death by a rhino,
3. Graham and his brother involved with running guns to the Confederacy,
4. Violet meeting Prince Albert,
5. a diplomatic incident between England and the U.S.,
6. thieving servants,
7. Violet adopting an orphan,
8. Violet and Susanna (the orphan) surviving a train wreck,
9. Violet assisting with Prince Albert's funeral,
10. Violet's visits with Queen Victoria,
11. Charles Francis Adams, the pseudo-ambassador to England and HIS various schemes,
12. a mysterious murderer running amok,
13. Graham's paranoia and attempted assassination of Mr. Adams,
14. Violet's attraction to Mr. Harper,
15. Graham and his brother going on the run,
16. Violet's questioning by Parliament regarding Graham and his brother's schemes,
17. Graham and his brother's deaths in America (aboard the USS Monitor) when they're running contraband rum to the Confederacy,
18. Susanna's kidnapping,
19. Violet's encounter with Graham's unsavory backers who are attempting to collect on his debts, 20. Violet's suspicions about her friend's new boyfriend,
21. the unmasking of the murderer and their trial, conviction and hanging,
22. Violet falling in love with Mr. Harper,
23. Mr. Harper's death in the Civil War,
24. Prince Albert's re-internment in his new mausoleum,
25. Mr. Harper's return from the dead and finally,
26. Mr. Harper & Violet's decision to move to Colorado with Susanna to live happily ever after. Are you as exhausted as I am by the number of plot threads? I'm sure I'm forgetting some, so this list isn't even all you have to keep track of in this book.
(show spoiler)
It wasn't a bad book, it really just felt like it needed some editing. It could be really good if the story was tightened up and focused on fewer of the plot points to shape a more coherent story.
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