Carnegie's Maid

Author: Marie Benedict
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2018
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the other woman with the same name has vanished, and pretending to be her just might get Clara some money to send back home.

If she can keep up the ruse, that is. Serving as a lady's maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills she doesn't have, answering to an icy mistress who rules her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara does have is resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for, coupled with an uncanny understanding of business, and Andrew begins to rely on her. But Clara can't let her guard down, not even when Andrew becomes something more than an employer. Revealing her past might ruin her future, and her family's.

With captivating insight and heart, Carnegie's Maid tells the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie's transformation from ruthless industrialist into the world's first true philanthropist.

Review: This is an American Downton Abbey, set in city I have called home for almost 20 years. Pittsburgh is also the city my mother's side of the family settled in after their arrival as immigrants in the early 1900s from Ireland, England, Poland, and Germany.

Local author, Marie Benedict, brings Carnegie alive, and we see another side of him that isn't widely known. I haven't researched how much of this book is fiction versus fact, and I don't think I want to. I loved the story, and choose to believe it all happened, exactly like this ;-)

I was all set to give this book five stars and a "Highly Recommend" rating, but then I read the last chapter. It barely seemed to fit the rest of the book. I suffered some kind of whiplash with how abruptly the author switched gears and ended the story. I'll have to spend some time thinking about how I would have transitioned to the conclusion, because I'm not sure myself at this point. However, I do know there were alternative ways. Still, this novel deserves a strong "Recommend" rating.

In some ways Carnegie's Maid is reminiscent of another book I read years ago and loved, The Valley of Decision.

Other Marie Benedict novels:
The Only Woman in the Room
The Mystery of Mrs Christie