Rams Head: A Novel

by Kathleen Boyes

It’s 1919. America is in flux. The Great War just ended, Spanish Flu is running rampant, prohibition is imminent, and women are poised to get the vote. Friends and suffragists Carter and Lucille set out to Shelter Island, NY to open a posh country inn, hoping to welcome New York’s high society and seafaring executives. Instead, mayhem and misfits check in. Individuals shunned by society seek refuge at the remote Rams Head War widows, an unconventional couple, a pregnant teenager, a runaway wife, a woman seeking traces of her enslaved ancestors. Other guests descend on the Inn with more nefarious intentions, viewing the isolated B&B as an ideal harbor for booze & a brothel. An unlikely family forms among the guests. Not all will survive. Some will thrive. But all will be forever changed.

420 pages, Paperback

Published May 11, 2024

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, compelling novel weaving together feminist awakening/suffragette movement, prohibition, and friendship, set in the post-WWI era. Characters are well-developed, plot lines are intriguing, and writing is fluid, descriptive, and crisp. Ms. Boyes constructed a creative story around the Rams Head Inn that makes one want to visit and absorb its history!

[Samantha Read · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be good so bad but it was sloppy. The author seemed to want to write a historical fiction but didn’t put the research in and just wrote a modern book and said it was a hundred years ago. Desperately needed an editor. Handful of mistakes including frequent jumping from perspectives.

[Camile Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful historical fiction that transports you back in time to the prohibition and women’s suffrage movement with tremendous character development. If you enjoyed the Great Gatsby then you will love this book!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were compelling aspects to this story - the setting, the era, the history. It was wrapped in confusion - too many characters, multiple complex situations and lack of a driving plot.