Author: Howard Fast
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2010 (first published in 1977)
Pages: 480
Rating: Recommend
Quick to ascend from the tragic depths of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Dan Lavette becomes the head of a powerful shipping empire and establishes himself among the city's cultural elite. But when he finds himself caught in a loveless marriage to the daughter of San Francisco's richest family, a scandalous love affair threatens to destroy the empire Dan has built for himself.
Review: I was browsing the library shelves when the title of this book jumped out at me. When I took it up to the counter, the librarian began raving about it, and said it's the best family saga she's every read. In that department, it has some stiff competition because Roses and Valley of Decision are two of my favorite books ever, but I'm ready to add a third to that list.
Sadly, this is not the book. I liked it, but this wasn't a favorite. In general I don't read a lot of male authors because they tend to write women and relationships from a male perspective, and as a female reader, they don't ring true. This novel falls into that trap.
The story was great, the cast of characters were great, however, male/female relationships fell short. The plot and tying the family into significant historical events and times is what kept me reading, and unfortunately, relationships are a lot of what this novel is about.
I've read other books written in the 1970s and 1980s and readers were different back then, not surprising. Maybe this is one of those books that hasn't aged particularly well for present-day readers.
3 stars
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