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Old Seattle
Mercer Girls
It’s 1864 in downtrodden Lowell, Massachusetts. The Civil War has taken its toll on the town—leaving the economy in ruin and its women in dire straits. That is, until Asa Mercer arrives on a peculiar, but providential, errand: he seeks high-minded women who can exert an elevating influence in Seattle, where there are ten men for every woman. Mail-order brides, yes, but of a certain caliber.
Schoolmarmish Josephine, tough-as-nails Dovey, and pious perfectionist Sophronia see their chance to exchange their bleak prospects for new lives. But the very troubles that sent them running from Lowell follow them to the muddy streets of Seattle, and the friendships forged on the cross-country trek are tested at every turn.
Just when the journey seems to lead only to ruin, an encounter with a famous suffragist could be their salvation. But to survive both an untamed new landscape and their pasts, they’ll need all their strength—and one another.
Schoolmarmish Josephine, tough-as-nails Dovey, and pious perfectionist Sophronia see their chance to exchange their bleak prospects for new lives. But the very troubles that sent them running from Lowell follow them to the muddy streets of Seattle, and the friendships forged on the cross-country trek are tested at every turn.
Just when the journey seems to lead only to ruin, an encounter with a famous suffragist could be their salvation. But to survive both an untamed new landscape and their pasts, they’ll need all their strength—and one another.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 10, 2016
1088 people are currently reading
2638 people want to read
About the author
Libbie Hawker
38 books495 followersLibbie was born in Rexburg, Idaho and divided her childhood between Eastern Idaho's rural environs and the greater Seattle area. She presently lives in Seattle, but has also been a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah; Bellingham, Washington; and Tacoma, Washington. She loves to write about character and place, and is inspired by the bleak natural beauty of the Rocky Mountain region and by the fascinating history of the Puget Sound.
After three years of trying to break into the publishing industry with her various books under two different pen names, Libbie finally turned her back on the mainstream publishing industry and embraced independent publishing. She now writes her self-published fiction full-time, and enjoys the fact that the writing career she always dreamed of having is fully under her own control.
Libbie's writerly influences are varied, and include Vladimir Nabokov, Hilary Mantel, Annie Dillard, George R. R. Martin, songwriter Neko Case, and mixed-media storyteller Chris Onstad, to name but a few.
She previously wrote under the pen name L.M. Ironside (historical fiction).
After three years of trying to break into the publishing industry with her various books under two different pen names, Libbie finally turned her back on the mainstream publishing industry and embraced independent publishing. She now writes her self-published fiction full-time, and enjoys the fact that the writing career she always dreamed of having is fully under her own control.
Libbie's writerly influences are varied, and include Vladimir Nabokov, Hilary Mantel, Annie Dillard, George R. R. Martin, songwriter Neko Case, and mixed-media storyteller Chris Onstad, to name but a few.
She previously wrote under the pen name L.M. Ironside (historical fiction).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 398 reviews
May 26, 2017
This was an excellent historical fiction novel that I just couldn't put down. "Mercer Girls" refers to the groups of women that left their New England homes and went to live in Washington territory in the 1860's. Although they were primarily enticed for their education and refinement, it was actually their role as potential brides that was the real intention. But this isn't your typical "mail-order bride" scenario.
Libbie Hawker takes readers through this journey by giving us three very memorable female protagonists that thrive to live life on their own terms. In fact, all three characters are instrumental in showing readers just how confined a woman's sphere really was.Many matters including finances, marital status, and domestic violence against women were completely ignored in this time period.
I loved the unconventional ways in which each woman -Jo, Dovey, and Sophorina tackle the daily ins and outs of living in a new territory. The search of each woman in discovering what they wanted to really be, made this such an authentic book. Each woman has a very unique voice in the story and I can honestly say that there wasn't a character I preferred more than the others. However,I did find a few things about each one exasperating, but luckily, not all at the same time.
Of course, adding onto the story is the growth of the suffrage movement under Susan B. Anthony and the fight for justice and equality. I always have found this to be a really important piece of history and Hawker weaves this important part of history expertly into the narrative.
Oh sure, the three women also do have matters of the heart, but it's presented with careful attention to the personalities and desires of each individual woman.
Put this on your to read list for 2016. I know you will not be disappointed.
I received an advanced e-book copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks NetGalley!
Libbie Hawker takes readers through this journey by giving us three very memorable female protagonists that thrive to live life on their own terms. In fact, all three characters are instrumental in showing readers just how confined a woman's sphere really was.Many matters including finances, marital status, and domestic violence against women were completely ignored in this time period.
I loved the unconventional ways in which each woman -Jo, Dovey, and Sophorina tackle the daily ins and outs of living in a new territory. The search of each woman in discovering what they wanted to really be, made this such an authentic book. Each woman has a very unique voice in the story and I can honestly say that there wasn't a character I preferred more than the others. However,I did find a few things about each one exasperating, but luckily, not all at the same time.
Of course, adding onto the story is the growth of the suffrage movement under Susan B. Anthony and the fight for justice and equality. I always have found this to be a really important piece of history and Hawker weaves this important part of history expertly into the narrative.
Oh sure, the three women also do have matters of the heart, but it's presented with careful attention to the personalities and desires of each individual woman.
Put this on your to read list for 2016. I know you will not be disappointed.
I received an advanced e-book copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks NetGalley!
May 30, 2016
This novel is an interesting piece of historical fiction. I find the settling of Seattle to be a very unique story and the tale of the Mercer girls is a part of it.
The story, as the blurb explains, is that of Asa Mercer, a Seattle businessman of influence and the founder of the University of Washington, who travels to the east coast to recruit women to come to Seattle. He is counting on the fact that the East has lost many men to the Civil War and there are many women looking for a man to settle down and start families. What he didn’t count on was the scrutiny that he has to overcome to convince women, of “better families” to agree to the long voyage and to believe that his intentions are for them to help build families in the West and not to abduct them for other reasons. The women also had to come up with quite a bit of money for the travel via train and ship, down to Panama and then up again to Seattle.
I found the initial part of the book to be quite interesting, the look at life in Massachusetts and the reasons why these women are leaving their old lives behind.There are three main characters who all have their own reasons for leaving.
Dovey is the last daughter of a great mill baron who has gone bankrupt due to the inability to obtain cotton from the South. It’s sort of an age old story, girl flees from an arranged marriage to seek out her own life and make her own way in the world.
Josephine is the oldest of the three and is running from a secret past which is revealed about ⅓ of the way through the book.
Sophronia is intent on doing God’s work in the West by finding a good Christian man, marrying and starting a family. She has thrown away many suitors because they weren’t “pure” enough in their intentions, so she throws in her lot with the other Mercer girls.
Rather than recount the gist of the story I’d rather give you my thoughts. I think the premise of the book was very good and obviously much research was done. However much I wanted to like this book it just fell flat for me. The characters were stereotypical and their stories just went on and on. Maybe some better editing would have helped shrink the middle part of the story down, for me I began to lose interest.
The Women’s Suffrage storyline was well written but I don’t think I found anything really new here that I haven’t read before. I think that this author has a lot of talent and many will enjoy this story of the Mercer Girls. I did end up searching the internet for this history and enjoyed looking at actual pictures of the real Mercer Girls and some of the articles written in the newspapers on the East coast covering the story.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story, as the blurb explains, is that of Asa Mercer, a Seattle businessman of influence and the founder of the University of Washington, who travels to the east coast to recruit women to come to Seattle. He is counting on the fact that the East has lost many men to the Civil War and there are many women looking for a man to settle down and start families. What he didn’t count on was the scrutiny that he has to overcome to convince women, of “better families” to agree to the long voyage and to believe that his intentions are for them to help build families in the West and not to abduct them for other reasons. The women also had to come up with quite a bit of money for the travel via train and ship, down to Panama and then up again to Seattle.
I found the initial part of the book to be quite interesting, the look at life in Massachusetts and the reasons why these women are leaving their old lives behind.There are three main characters who all have their own reasons for leaving.
Dovey is the last daughter of a great mill baron who has gone bankrupt due to the inability to obtain cotton from the South. It’s sort of an age old story, girl flees from an arranged marriage to seek out her own life and make her own way in the world.
Josephine is the oldest of the three and is running from a secret past which is revealed about ⅓ of the way through the book.
Sophronia is intent on doing God’s work in the West by finding a good Christian man, marrying and starting a family. She has thrown away many suitors because they weren’t “pure” enough in their intentions, so she throws in her lot with the other Mercer girls.
Rather than recount the gist of the story I’d rather give you my thoughts. I think the premise of the book was very good and obviously much research was done. However much I wanted to like this book it just fell flat for me. The characters were stereotypical and their stories just went on and on. Maybe some better editing would have helped shrink the middle part of the story down, for me I began to lose interest.
The Women’s Suffrage storyline was well written but I don’t think I found anything really new here that I haven’t read before. I think that this author has a lot of talent and many will enjoy this story of the Mercer Girls. I did end up searching the internet for this history and enjoyed looking at actual pictures of the real Mercer Girls and some of the articles written in the newspapers on the East coast covering the story.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 27, 2016
This book might rate 4 stars to a different reader, but for my own enjoyment I'm giving it 3. It just wasn't quite meaty enough for me.
Although it's titled Mercer Girls, that history isn't too important to this story, it's just a reason to bring these three women together. The East Coast's male population was ravaged by the Civil War, but the West Coast was suffering from a lack of females for the men to marry. So Asa Mercer traveled East to bring women back as possible brides in Seattle. The first 40% of the book is an introduction to three of these women: devout and pure Sophronia, young and wild Dovey, and the "elder" (35 years) Jo, who is content to be a spinster teacher as long as she escapes her life in the East.
Each of these women have their own reasons for leaving Massachusetts, and after the long and horrifying trip by boat (all the way down to Panama and back up) these three are not exactly Mercer success stories. The past catches up to each of them, and they all have their own issues that prevent them from getting married. The story is more about women's rights and Suffrage from 1864-1870, and Susan B. Anthony & Abigail Duniway are featured prominently in the story.
I was a little disappointed that we don't find out much about how the lives of actual Mercer Girls went - unless the Mercer experiment was a complete failure all around, but I doubt it. All three of these girls have their own adventures when they arrive in Seattle, but none of them are according to Mercer's plan. So that history is missing, other than the horrific journey to the West.
The Women's Suffrage storyline was very interesting though, and also depressing when you realize how far we've come and also how far we still have to go. If you read this story and wonder how women could have possibly left their entire life choices and finances in the hands of their fathers and husbands, you should also be wondering why our physical bodies and medical needs are still in the hands of others. Having read several books recently about the time before Suffrage, I just find the whole thing a bit depressing.
The story focuses on the life in Seattle for wild child Dovey, devout Sophronia and the victimized Jo, but it wasn't fleshed out enough for me. I'd love to read MORE about Dovey; in this book we barely see any of her plans come to fruition. Sophronia has only a small character development, and there's not enough of Jo either.
And the end is wrapped up just a little too tidily. I don't buy Dovey's final reconciliation, that comes out of the blue with no explanation. I don't understand Jo's final decision whatsoever. And Sophronia ended up with the life you expect of her from the beginning.
It just wasn't enough for ME. But it wasn't a bad book at all, and I think readers who want a lighter story taking place in this time period might very well love it. I needed something a bit meatier, and I would have loved to hear more about the other Mercer Girls.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Although it's titled Mercer Girls, that history isn't too important to this story, it's just a reason to bring these three women together. The East Coast's male population was ravaged by the Civil War, but the West Coast was suffering from a lack of females for the men to marry. So Asa Mercer traveled East to bring women back as possible brides in Seattle. The first 40% of the book is an introduction to three of these women: devout and pure Sophronia, young and wild Dovey, and the "elder" (35 years) Jo, who is content to be a spinster teacher as long as she escapes her life in the East.
Each of these women have their own reasons for leaving Massachusetts, and after the long and horrifying trip by boat (all the way down to Panama and back up) these three are not exactly Mercer success stories. The past catches up to each of them, and they all have their own issues that prevent them from getting married. The story is more about women's rights and Suffrage from 1864-1870, and Susan B. Anthony & Abigail Duniway are featured prominently in the story.
I was a little disappointed that we don't find out much about how the lives of actual Mercer Girls went - unless the Mercer experiment was a complete failure all around, but I doubt it. All three of these girls have their own adventures when they arrive in Seattle, but none of them are according to Mercer's plan. So that history is missing, other than the horrific journey to the West.
The Women's Suffrage storyline was very interesting though, and also depressing when you realize how far we've come and also how far we still have to go. If you read this story and wonder how women could have possibly left their entire life choices and finances in the hands of their fathers and husbands, you should also be wondering why our physical bodies and medical needs are still in the hands of others. Having read several books recently about the time before Suffrage, I just find the whole thing a bit depressing.
The story focuses on the life in Seattle for wild child Dovey, devout Sophronia and the victimized Jo, but it wasn't fleshed out enough for me. I'd love to read MORE about Dovey; in this book we barely see any of her plans come to fruition. Sophronia has only a small character development, and there's not enough of Jo either.
And the end is wrapped up just a little too tidily. I don't buy Dovey's final reconciliation, that comes out of the blue with no explanation. I don't understand Jo's final decision whatsoever. And Sophronia ended up with the life you expect of her from the beginning.
It just wasn't enough for ME. But it wasn't a bad book at all, and I think readers who want a lighter story taking place in this time period might very well love it. I needed something a bit meatier, and I would have loved to hear more about the other Mercer Girls.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 27, 2017
I usually love historical fiction but this one felt a bit flat to me. I thought the beginning had potential but then it fizzled out and I found myself getting bored. Also the ending felt like the author just slapped a bright pink bow on everything and said done. Wait…what? I’m not sure if the Mercer Girls is considered Christian Fiction or not but it definitely felt that way to me. I had no idea there was going to be so much God talk and moral righteousness from the characters. After a while it became too much for me. I will finish this quick review on the plus side and say, it did make me want to do some research on the real Mercer girls though.
August 4, 2017
Hawker has done her research, bringing three women together from the East who travel to Seattle where there are 10 men for every woman during the Civil War. The three women were extremely stereotypical, almost cartoonish in their overdrawn characters. Chalk this one up to a good premise but poorly executed.
March 13, 2017
Nothing, pages and pages of nothing; interesting historical experience boiled down to flat characters and nothing. How could traveling around the country in 1860's be so yawn-inducing. The only character of any teeth was 16...but then her major rebellion was to own a brothel?!? Seriously
December 8, 2016
So Mercer Girls…I have a lot to say about this book and it’s a real mixed bag of feelings. This book came extraordinarily close to being a second DNF this year, but with this one after setting it aside for months I came back and finished reading through it. And I think that was absolutely necessary as it divided the book into virtually two books in my brain (which is what I felt needed to be done here anyway).
Let’s start with what I loved about the book…the cover! I don’t know that the cover really gives any relation at all to the story, mayyyybe she could have been a Mercer girl, who knows. But, this cover would have drawn me to it if I saw it sitting on a shelf regardless of what the story was about or what section it was in. While the majority of the image is in gray-scale, the aqua color pops in the areas where it appears and the red used for the title area added complementing colors. Beautiful cover and I’m not ashamed to say that it contributed to my desire to grab up the book in combination with the book description.
I liked the idea and the historical story behind Mercer Girls. I had never heard of Asa Mercer’s two expeditions to the east coast to round of young women looking to move west to Seattle to marry the men who had went west to build the city. This was the portion of the novel that I did enjoy. The tribulations that Mercer faces in trying to gather more than a few women, even from towns and cities that were facing hardships as a result of the Civil War, were striking. You would have thought that more wanted to travel for opportunity, but not quite the case. Mercer wasn’t trusted, people were afraid that these women would end up as prostitutes instead of wives. But our three heroines (Jo, Sophronia, and Dovey) agree to go with Mercer each for their own reasons – pasts that they are trying to escape. The women’s experience getting to the west was harrowing, the trip by sea was dangerous and quite literally gut-wrenching. I appreciated the bonding of these women over their shared experiences and how they helped each other to survive. Upon arriving in Seattle it was an entirely different experience than what the women expected to find – they were not welcomed and the world was a more spare existence than they anticipated. It was about this time that I felt the novel should have wound to an end, but unfortunately this was only about the halfway point, and where I had set down the novel for a while.
The second portion of the novel was about their new life in Seattle, which I didn’t find nearly half as interesting and felt like a separate story from the earliest part. The women sort of went their separate ways and the story became mired down in the fight for women’s suffrage, which felt heavy and a little bit preachy. Ultimately, the story wound up fairly well, but I struggled to get through this second portion. I did not really like any of the women, especially when they had their own storylines. Together, they were a united front and they interacted well with each other, but on their own they were just uninteresting. Sophronia (what kind of name is that?) was exceptionally preachy, uptight, and small-minded. Jo had the most interesting of a backstory (and that’s not saying too much), but as a person she was boring. Dovey she was just too much of everything: a wreck and a daredevil. They each were more of a stereotype than an actual woman. I did not feel like their decisions were well thought out and they were all over the place.
If this story had ended before the women’s suffrage storyline, this probably would have been a 4 star for me as I enjoyed that plotline. However, the second half of the story was a real drag for me and brought it lower in my opinion of the book as a whole.
A copy of this book was received for review consideration and this review was previously posted at my blog, The Maiden's Court
Let’s start with what I loved about the book…the cover! I don’t know that the cover really gives any relation at all to the story, mayyyybe she could have been a Mercer girl, who knows. But, this cover would have drawn me to it if I saw it sitting on a shelf regardless of what the story was about or what section it was in. While the majority of the image is in gray-scale, the aqua color pops in the areas where it appears and the red used for the title area added complementing colors. Beautiful cover and I’m not ashamed to say that it contributed to my desire to grab up the book in combination with the book description.
I liked the idea and the historical story behind Mercer Girls. I had never heard of Asa Mercer’s two expeditions to the east coast to round of young women looking to move west to Seattle to marry the men who had went west to build the city. This was the portion of the novel that I did enjoy. The tribulations that Mercer faces in trying to gather more than a few women, even from towns and cities that were facing hardships as a result of the Civil War, were striking. You would have thought that more wanted to travel for opportunity, but not quite the case. Mercer wasn’t trusted, people were afraid that these women would end up as prostitutes instead of wives. But our three heroines (Jo, Sophronia, and Dovey) agree to go with Mercer each for their own reasons – pasts that they are trying to escape. The women’s experience getting to the west was harrowing, the trip by sea was dangerous and quite literally gut-wrenching. I appreciated the bonding of these women over their shared experiences and how they helped each other to survive. Upon arriving in Seattle it was an entirely different experience than what the women expected to find – they were not welcomed and the world was a more spare existence than they anticipated. It was about this time that I felt the novel should have wound to an end, but unfortunately this was only about the halfway point, and where I had set down the novel for a while.
The second portion of the novel was about their new life in Seattle, which I didn’t find nearly half as interesting and felt like a separate story from the earliest part. The women sort of went their separate ways and the story became mired down in the fight for women’s suffrage, which felt heavy and a little bit preachy. Ultimately, the story wound up fairly well, but I struggled to get through this second portion. I did not really like any of the women, especially when they had their own storylines. Together, they were a united front and they interacted well with each other, but on their own they were just uninteresting. Sophronia (what kind of name is that?) was exceptionally preachy, uptight, and small-minded. Jo had the most interesting of a backstory (and that’s not saying too much), but as a person she was boring. Dovey she was just too much of everything: a wreck and a daredevil. They each were more of a stereotype than an actual woman. I did not feel like their decisions were well thought out and they were all over the place.
If this story had ended before the women’s suffrage storyline, this probably would have been a 4 star for me as I enjoyed that plotline. However, the second half of the story was a real drag for me and brought it lower in my opinion of the book as a whole.
A copy of this book was received for review consideration and this review was previously posted at my blog, The Maiden's Court
June 17, 2016
NOTE: Received as an ARC from Netgalley.
This was a period in history I thought I knew nothing about, until I realized the Mercer Girls left the Lowell Mills for Seattle. That's when the theme song to the old TV show "Here Come the Brides " started going through my head. But there's more than wedding bells in store for three particular Mercer Girls. I always look forward to a new historical novel by Libbie Hawker—her meticulous research means I always learn something new via a fascinating story.
This was a period in history I thought I knew nothing about, until I realized the Mercer Girls left the Lowell Mills for Seattle. That's when the theme song to the old TV show "Here Come the Brides " started going through my head. But there's more than wedding bells in store for three particular Mercer Girls. I always look forward to a new historical novel by Libbie Hawker—her meticulous research means I always learn something new via a fascinating story.
August 5, 2017
The best part of this book was the author's afterword where she wrote of actual history. Other reviewers have used the phrase extreme stereotypes very accurately. Unfortunately, I listened to the audio edition which only made it worse because not even the voice in my head could tone them down. Improbable does not begin to describe the story lines of the three main characters. Don't think you are getting historical fiction, it is a romance through and through. My apologies to the author, it distresses me to be this critical of a book.
June 24, 2019
Two and a half stars on this one. I picked up this audiobook because part of it takes place in the mid 1800's in Lowell, Massachusetts in the cotton mills. Well, my great grandmother Sofia worked in the cotton mills in Lowell from about 1849 to 1855 and I have her original letters to her parents who lived in nearby Reading, Massachusetts.
The other part takes place in the Western Territories. Well Sofia's brother, Henry went to the Western Territories and was there permanently from 1865 to 1875. I have his original letters to his sister.
The story surrounds the girls that Mr. Mercer convinced to make the trip to the Western Territories as the cotton mills were closing on the East Coast. He promised them husbands and jobs as teachers as there was a scarcity of women in those parts.
So I thought this would have better historical context and it veered into a bit more light romance than I anticipated, which is not what I was looking for though it might make a very fun read for someone else.
The other part takes place in the Western Territories. Well Sofia's brother, Henry went to the Western Territories and was there permanently from 1865 to 1875. I have his original letters to his sister.
The story surrounds the girls that Mr. Mercer convinced to make the trip to the Western Territories as the cotton mills were closing on the East Coast. He promised them husbands and jobs as teachers as there was a scarcity of women in those parts.
So I thought this would have better historical context and it veered into a bit more light romance than I anticipated, which is not what I was looking for though it might make a very fun read for someone else.
June 15, 2017
1.5 stars. I was going on a trip to Seattle and thought that this might be a fun accompaniment.
Even though I love history, especially women's history, and the city of Seattle, I was disappointed. Mercer Girls is basically a shallow, predictable, historical romance without a lot meat. Not my kind of book. It did have a pretty cover though! I skimmed the last third of the book.
Writing was mediocre, plot held no surprises - I knew the bad husband was coming back, I guessed the women would win in the end. Everyone falls in love with a Mr. Wonderful and most get married.
At first the women banded together on their trip west. Would you predict bad storms, and seasickness? This was actually the more interesting part of the book for me. The real Seattle was full of lively characters that were barely mentioned in passing. I know the author did a lot of research for the women characters, but Seattle is never detailed, except for the seamstresses and the mud.
Hawker focused on 3 women, loosely based on composites of several real Mercer girls. Unfortunately these characters were petty and had little depth. The 'Christian' lady was overly judgemental and preachy. That was probably true for the times, but it got repetitive. The 'young' lady remains a spitfire. the 'old schoolmarm' was...nice. Two would argue, the goody woman would mediate, again and again, but guess what?! In the end they are there for each other.
Many other reviewers like the book. I think I've gotten spoiled by writers like Louis Erdrich, Sue Monk Kidd, Barbara Kingsolver, William Kent Krueger, Anthony Doerr, Faith Sullivan Anne LaMott.
Even though I love history, especially women's history, and the city of Seattle, I was disappointed. Mercer Girls is basically a shallow, predictable, historical romance without a lot meat. Not my kind of book. It did have a pretty cover though! I skimmed the last third of the book.
Writing was mediocre, plot held no surprises - I knew the bad husband was coming back, I guessed the women would win in the end. Everyone falls in love with a Mr. Wonderful and most get married.
At first the women banded together on their trip west. Would you predict bad storms, and seasickness? This was actually the more interesting part of the book for me. The real Seattle was full of lively characters that were barely mentioned in passing. I know the author did a lot of research for the women characters, but Seattle is never detailed, except for the seamstresses and the mud.
Hawker focused on 3 women, loosely based on composites of several real Mercer girls. Unfortunately these characters were petty and had little depth. The 'Christian' lady was overly judgemental and preachy. That was probably true for the times, but it got repetitive. The 'young' lady remains a spitfire. the 'old schoolmarm' was...nice. Two would argue, the goody woman would mediate, again and again, but guess what?! In the end they are there for each other.
Many other reviewers like the book. I think I've gotten spoiled by writers like Louis Erdrich, Sue Monk Kidd, Barbara Kingsolver, William Kent Krueger, Anthony Doerr, Faith Sullivan Anne LaMott.
March 11, 2017
I loved this book! This is one of those books that you miss after it ends. It makes me want to learn more about the Mercer Girls. Seattle history never ceases to amaze me.
August 18, 2017
In the 1860s Seattle was starting a boom. Logging mills and fishing were growing industries, with the Puget Sound making a wonderful harbor. What the city lacked was women. A few married women had moved out with husbands. It was also a very profitable town for "night flowers". With a population of 10 men for every woman, most of them prostitutes, they seldom lacked for customers.
In 1864 Asa Mercer headed to Lowell, Massachusetts, on a mission from the city of Seattle. He was to recruit women of good moral character to return to Seattle to become brides. While they courted they would be paid $75 per month as teachers. He chose Lowell because it was mostly a cotton mill town and it was being hit hard by the Civil War since southern cotton was no longer available. Mercer faced a great deal of suspicion regarding his motives and, finally was able to attract 11 women to go with him on this first trip.
Libbie Hawker was a resident of Seattle and heard about the story. She wrote this book using much of the history she'd learned. She did add three women, in part because descendents of the real Mercer girls still live in Seattle and are fairly touchy about how their ancestors are represented.
Hawker adds Josephine, a 32-year-old woman fleeing Lowell from something sinister that will haunt her throughout the book. Then there's Dovey, the 16-year-old daughter of a now impoverished mill owner whose father is trying to marry her off to a well-to-do son of a local business owner. Finally there's Sophronia, the daughter of Christian missionaries. Sophronia is beautiful but so strictly religious that she has sent away several suitors for the simple effrontery of kissing her on the cheek. She has a way of distancing nearly everyone she meets.
On their own funds they travel from New York City to Panama, across the isthmus by train, then on to San Francisco and Seattle.
It's during the San Francisco stopover that we learn what Josephine is running from. It's also where Dovey, as entrepreneurial as her father, begins to ponder the profitability of starting her own bawdy house and acting as madame.
They and the other women arrive in town and are immediately overwhelmed by lonely men and generally spurned by the married ladies of the town as potential strumpets.
There are lots of cute and romantic moments in the book, along with some terror when Josephine's past catches up with her. There are even some feminist moments when Susan B. Anthony and a companion arrive to lobby the territorial legislature for women's rights ... also based on a historical moment.
The book is fast moving and, especially with ambitious Dovey, downright hilarious at times. If you're a fan of happy endings this book certainly has one. For my tastes it nearly goes too far, turning into a "very special episode" level of sentimentality. But, considering how most books I've been reading end, that may be a welcome change of pace for a lot of readers.
Hawker closes the book with an interesting epilogue about the real history behind the book. It's interesting enough that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to read it before taking on the fiction. It certainly puts the hardships of the real Mercer Girls in perspective.
In 1864 Asa Mercer headed to Lowell, Massachusetts, on a mission from the city of Seattle. He was to recruit women of good moral character to return to Seattle to become brides. While they courted they would be paid $75 per month as teachers. He chose Lowell because it was mostly a cotton mill town and it was being hit hard by the Civil War since southern cotton was no longer available. Mercer faced a great deal of suspicion regarding his motives and, finally was able to attract 11 women to go with him on this first trip.
Libbie Hawker was a resident of Seattle and heard about the story. She wrote this book using much of the history she'd learned. She did add three women, in part because descendents of the real Mercer girls still live in Seattle and are fairly touchy about how their ancestors are represented.
Hawker adds Josephine, a 32-year-old woman fleeing Lowell from something sinister that will haunt her throughout the book. Then there's Dovey, the 16-year-old daughter of a now impoverished mill owner whose father is trying to marry her off to a well-to-do son of a local business owner. Finally there's Sophronia, the daughter of Christian missionaries. Sophronia is beautiful but so strictly religious that she has sent away several suitors for the simple effrontery of kissing her on the cheek. She has a way of distancing nearly everyone she meets.
On their own funds they travel from New York City to Panama, across the isthmus by train, then on to San Francisco and Seattle.
It's during the San Francisco stopover that we learn what Josephine is running from. It's also where Dovey, as entrepreneurial as her father, begins to ponder the profitability of starting her own bawdy house and acting as madame.
They and the other women arrive in town and are immediately overwhelmed by lonely men and generally spurned by the married ladies of the town as potential strumpets.
There are lots of cute and romantic moments in the book, along with some terror when Josephine's past catches up with her. There are even some feminist moments when Susan B. Anthony and a companion arrive to lobby the territorial legislature for women's rights ... also based on a historical moment.
The book is fast moving and, especially with ambitious Dovey, downright hilarious at times. If you're a fan of happy endings this book certainly has one. For my tastes it nearly goes too far, turning into a "very special episode" level of sentimentality. But, considering how most books I've been reading end, that may be a welcome change of pace for a lot of readers.
Hawker closes the book with an interesting epilogue about the real history behind the book. It's interesting enough that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to read it before taking on the fiction. It certainly puts the hardships of the real Mercer Girls in perspective.
May 29, 2016
I received this book through netgalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review. I loved this book. I have always loved reading about mail order brides, of which Mercer Girls were similar. A man by the name of Mercer wanted to improve the city so he decided he was going to find brides for these men who were drinking and fighing and gambling, because there were no women to marry and have family's with, so he was going to bring back 200 brides. He found the women through paper ads and they had to have money, quite a lot for that time in history, to pay for their fare by boat to get to where they were going. The ladies who for each had a reason they wanted to leave Lowell, Mass., found that the problems they left, did find they where they were going. Having a famous suffragette come to town was pretty much the salavation of them! I loved reading this and finding that quite a bit was based on real history. A fun read you can't put it down!
It’s 1864 in downtrodden Lowell, Massachusetts. The Civil War has taken its toll on the town—leaving the economy in ruin and its women in dire straits. That is, until Asa Mercer arrives on a peculiar, but providential, errand: he seeks high-minded women who can exert an elevating influence in Seattle, where there are ten men for every woman. Mail-order brides, yes, but of a certain caliber.
Schoolmarmish Josephine, tough-as-nails Dovey, and pious perfectionist Sophronia see their chance to exchange their bleak prospects for new lives. But the very troubles that sent them running from Lowell follow them to the muddy streets of Seattle, and the friendships forged on the cross-country trek are tested at every turn.
Just when the journey seems to lead only to ruin, an encounter with a famous suffragist could be their salvation. But to survive both an untamed new landscape and their pasts, they’ll need all their strength—and one another.
It’s 1864 in downtrodden Lowell, Massachusetts. The Civil War has taken its toll on the town—leaving the economy in ruin and its women in dire straits. That is, until Asa Mercer arrives on a peculiar, but providential, errand: he seeks high-minded women who can exert an elevating influence in Seattle, where there are ten men for every woman. Mail-order brides, yes, but of a certain caliber.
Schoolmarmish Josephine, tough-as-nails Dovey, and pious perfectionist Sophronia see their chance to exchange their bleak prospects for new lives. But the very troubles that sent them running from Lowell follow them to the muddy streets of Seattle, and the friendships forged on the cross-country trek are tested at every turn.
Just when the journey seems to lead only to ruin, an encounter with a famous suffragist could be their salvation. But to survive both an untamed new landscape and their pasts, they’ll need all their strength—and one another.
October 24, 2018
2.5 stars, rounded up.
I wanted to love this book, but there were a number of things that just did not work for me. The biggest problem was the character development--there wasn't enough of it to understand why the two of the three main characters (Sophronia and Dovey) acted the way they did. Both of those characters represent extremes: Sophronia is prudish, arrogant, judgmental and motivated by a particularly nasty and punitive Christianity, while Dovey is fearless, free-spirited, independent, and sexually uninhibited. Because both of the characters are so extreme, it's hard to understand why they act as they do. What would make a sheltered girl like Dovey decide that she wants to be a madam? It seems incredible, especially for the time period, that she would think this was a viable or desirable option. I get that her dad was controlling, but still, seems an extreme reaction. We get even less background on Sophronia which would explain her rigid and judgmental character. Maybe this was more consistent with the viewpoints of the time, but still, she is so extreme, there needs to be more explanation or she just looks like a caricature. The third main character, Jo, is much better drawn and really feels like the heart of the book.
I nearly gave up on this book after the first few chapters because there was a needless amount of tedious description without much happening. That got better, but again, more character development would have been preferable to descriptions of Lowell, Mass.
I think this book might have been much better without the character of Sophronia, and with more development of Dovey's character. Jo could have held up the whole book herself.
I wanted to love this book, but there were a number of things that just did not work for me. The biggest problem was the character development--there wasn't enough of it to understand why the two of the three main characters (Sophronia and Dovey) acted the way they did. Both of those characters represent extremes: Sophronia is prudish, arrogant, judgmental and motivated by a particularly nasty and punitive Christianity, while Dovey is fearless, free-spirited, independent, and sexually uninhibited. Because both of the characters are so extreme, it's hard to understand why they act as they do. What would make a sheltered girl like Dovey decide that she wants to be a madam? It seems incredible, especially for the time period, that she would think this was a viable or desirable option. I get that her dad was controlling, but still, seems an extreme reaction. We get even less background on Sophronia which would explain her rigid and judgmental character. Maybe this was more consistent with the viewpoints of the time, but still, she is so extreme, there needs to be more explanation or she just looks like a caricature. The third main character, Jo, is much better drawn and really feels like the heart of the book.
I nearly gave up on this book after the first few chapters because there was a needless amount of tedious description without much happening. That got better, but again, more character development would have been preferable to descriptions of Lowell, Mass.
I think this book might have been much better without the character of Sophronia, and with more development of Dovey's character. Jo could have held up the whole book herself.
May 11, 2016
During the Civil War there were very few "marriageable" men in the Northeast as most single men were fighting for the Union. This is the jumping off point for Libbie Hawker's Mercer Girls, a very unusual "mail order bride" story.
Three very different women of very different backgrounds, social class and secrets all sign on to travel from Lawrence, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington in the 1860's to marry and bring culture, education and domesticity to an uncivilized city with thousands of single men.
Their trip, its travails and their very unorthodox circumstances are detailed throughout the book. This is not a romance novel although there is some romance in the story -- but if that's what you're looking for, this is not the book for you.
Towards the end, Hawker adds a story line about women's suffrage and the fight for the vote, adding Susan B. Anthony and other famous American suffragettes to the plot. I don't know if the book is historically accurate but Mercer Girls is a unique tale with unusual and many faceted characters. It's not a quick read and my only complaint about the book is that it took so long to wrap up some of the character's story lines. that I was beginning to grow tired of them, That said, I highly recommend Mercer Girls and am looking forward to reading more works from Hawker.
Three very different women of very different backgrounds, social class and secrets all sign on to travel from Lawrence, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington in the 1860's to marry and bring culture, education and domesticity to an uncivilized city with thousands of single men.
Their trip, its travails and their very unorthodox circumstances are detailed throughout the book. This is not a romance novel although there is some romance in the story -- but if that's what you're looking for, this is not the book for you.
Towards the end, Hawker adds a story line about women's suffrage and the fight for the vote, adding Susan B. Anthony and other famous American suffragettes to the plot. I don't know if the book is historically accurate but Mercer Girls is a unique tale with unusual and many faceted characters. It's not a quick read and my only complaint about the book is that it took so long to wrap up some of the character's story lines. that I was beginning to grow tired of them, That said, I highly recommend Mercer Girls and am looking forward to reading more works from Hawker.
May 6, 2017
My review can be summed up as "Meh." The potential of this book was incredible, inspired as it was by the real-life women who decided to take on the daring trek to Seattle as mail-order bride in the later part of the 19th century. Unfortunately, what was presented in this book were characters at the extreme ends of stereotypes who we were given no basis for their motivation, a yawn-worthy "secret" that was evident from page 2 and, again, as the tension in the plot was handled with the sledgehammer of stereotypical, and all of this wrapped up in the weakest writing ever. It was pretty much the author doing a Mary-Sue fanfic of the interesting history note. Only most MS fanfic writers have more engaging characters presented with some level of depth. These women were flat, annoying, and honestly, vacillating from one extreme to the other with no rhyme no reason even hinted at.
August 6, 2017
I've been fascinated by the Mercer girls since the television show "Here Comes the Brides." So when I saw Libbie Hawker's historical fiction, Mercer Girls, I knew I wanted to read it.
Although this book has seen mixed reviews, I loved it. I liked connecting the historical names to current street names in Seattle. I liked the perspective of the three women who came from Lowell, MA in 1864 to change their lives in a somewhat uncivilized Seattle. I liked Hawker's honest depictions of the Mercer girls and women of the times.
Although the characters were a bit flat, they still portrayed the women of this time. I wish I felt like I knew them better. They just were on the verge of being. Mercer Girls is a compelling historical fiction rather you live in Seattle or not.
Although this book has seen mixed reviews, I loved it. I liked connecting the historical names to current street names in Seattle. I liked the perspective of the three women who came from Lowell, MA in 1864 to change their lives in a somewhat uncivilized Seattle. I liked Hawker's honest depictions of the Mercer girls and women of the times.
Although the characters were a bit flat, they still portrayed the women of this time. I wish I felt like I knew them better. They just were on the verge of being. Mercer Girls is a compelling historical fiction rather you live in Seattle or not.
June 2, 2017
This is a thoroughly enjoyable story based on the history of the New England women who traveled to Seattle to marry and help civilize the town. (At the time, the city had ten men for every woman, and many of those women were prostitutes.)
As in all good stories, things don't go as planned, and all three of the main characters go through struggles and unexpected changes. The three are fictional characters but based on facts the author gleaned from in-depth research into the real Mercer girls. Anyone interested in women's history or the history of the West should like this one.
As in all good stories, things don't go as planned, and all three of the main characters go through struggles and unexpected changes. The three are fictional characters but based on facts the author gleaned from in-depth research into the real Mercer girls. Anyone interested in women's history or the history of the West should like this one.
February 10, 2018
I was looking forward to this book because of the story line and historical setting. Huge disappointment. I only got about 4 hours into the audio version before giving up. Even though the author dangles a few mysteries in front of the reader, they weren't enough to hold my attention. The biggest obstacle for me was the characters. Many of them weren't believable. I didn't think that a female, at that time, in those circumstances would have behaved in such ways. If I can't believe or relate to the characters, I can't get into a book.
May 24, 2022
I LOVED this book. Hawker wove history in neatly alongside a rich historical romance storyline, and although improbable, the character’s journeys are exciting just the same.
I’d never heard of the Mercer Girls before this, but now I’m so fascinated by the story of these women - a Wikipedia deep dive is imminent.
I’d never heard of the Mercer Girls before this, but now I’m so fascinated by the story of these women - a Wikipedia deep dive is imminent.
January 17, 2024
Jo closed her eyes and breathed deeply, reveling in the fresh bite of cedar in the crisp springtime air, the secretive green scent of wet foliage, the familiar sourness of seaweed rising on a wind from the tide flats. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Jo could hear the promise of happiness in every toll of the church bell, could taste the salt of joyous tears on the Puget sound breeze.
ooooooooooooooouuugughghghghghghguuuughghggughughughugh what a 2016 kind of novel lol
I don't want to be too harsh on it bc different times, I get it, but mannnnnnn I was not feeeeeeeeling this book I mostly finished it to cross off a category on my reading challenge, and because I was at least lukewarm interested in how the stories would go, and because I'm a huge fan of PNW history so I was doubly excited for a novel set in a woman's pov in this era of history
and like. ahhghghghghghghghghg the characters were so anachronistic! which is a huge pet peeve of mine in contemporary-written historical fiction. i just couldn't get fully into it. i like reading historical fiction to see where society used to be, as a mirror to where we are today, but there's this nasty habit of rewriting people from that era to make them more palatable to today, and it makes their struggles in this context fall so flat. it's just not interesting for a girl to start out full of girlboss gumption and to end the very same way; i'd like to see her internalized belief really change and be challenged along the way!
the full-on girlboss arc of one of the girls is crowned in her dream of owning a brothel, which is interesting in theory, but the novel only really explores the idea as far as insisting that prostitution was actually super cool and liberating because it was a way for seattle's few women at the time to make good money. full disclosure, i'm entirely pro-sex work but like .... it felt so weird and disingenuous for the character to be constantly shrieking about how she wants to own her cathouse and make it a place for girls to ply their wares in comfort but the only prostitute characters we see are super ancillary, have no effect on the plot, and are caricatures. (there's also zero depiction of native women or the native presence in seattle at all, which is especially egregious considering the author says in her afterward that she's usually an author american indian stories...??? so she should know how to handle that topic?????). the author notes she had to be VERY careful about not depicting any of the mercer girls as prostitutes due to the fact that the girls' descendants are quite sensitive about it, which is understandable -- but having your novel touch on sex work in this way where we have a character who gets a job doing something else in order to save up for her cathouse, and is immediately accepted and lauded by the working girls who just beg this 16-year-old to start her cool brothel already, without ever exploring the actual lived realities of said sex workers... it just feels really cowardly?
also very hilary 2016 vibes with the susan b anthony suffrage arc and ms anthony coming to one of the girls' weddings jskdfhkjhflkjadhflkjsad just the entire politics of this novel feel really outdated already. it's sooo vote blue no matter who. which, like -- i don't disagree necessarily but the politics are just WILD and NOTTTTTTTT realistic for the era at all, which, as i said, is more what i look for in historical fiction.
it just didn't work for me at this point. it could work for you!! i think i would have adored this when it came out and i was a bit younger. the writing is superb, though it suffers from over-description syndrome, where the latter half of a paragraph is spent basically restating the first half, but the prose is pretty and there's so much research and specificity of everyday items, clothing, headwear etc that colored the everyday life and made it feel real. i liked what glimpses we got of a young seattle too.
ooooooooooooooouuugughghghghghghguuuughghggughughughugh what a 2016 kind of novel lol
I don't want to be too harsh on it bc different times, I get it, but mannnnnnn I was not feeeeeeeeling this book I mostly finished it to cross off a category on my reading challenge, and because I was at least lukewarm interested in how the stories would go, and because I'm a huge fan of PNW history so I was doubly excited for a novel set in a woman's pov in this era of history
and like. ahhghghghghghghghghg the characters were so anachronistic! which is a huge pet peeve of mine in contemporary-written historical fiction. i just couldn't get fully into it. i like reading historical fiction to see where society used to be, as a mirror to where we are today, but there's this nasty habit of rewriting people from that era to make them more palatable to today, and it makes their struggles in this context fall so flat. it's just not interesting for a girl to start out full of girlboss gumption and to end the very same way; i'd like to see her internalized belief really change and be challenged along the way!
the full-on girlboss arc of one of the girls is crowned in her dream of owning a brothel, which is interesting in theory, but the novel only really explores the idea as far as insisting that prostitution was actually super cool and liberating because it was a way for seattle's few women at the time to make good money. full disclosure, i'm entirely pro-sex work but like .... it felt so weird and disingenuous for the character to be constantly shrieking about how she wants to own her cathouse and make it a place for girls to ply their wares in comfort but the only prostitute characters we see are super ancillary, have no effect on the plot, and are caricatures. (there's also zero depiction of native women or the native presence in seattle at all, which is especially egregious considering the author says in her afterward that she's usually an author american indian stories...??? so she should know how to handle that topic?????). the author notes she had to be VERY careful about not depicting any of the mercer girls as prostitutes due to the fact that the girls' descendants are quite sensitive about it, which is understandable -- but having your novel touch on sex work in this way where we have a character who gets a job doing something else in order to save up for her cathouse, and is immediately accepted and lauded by the working girls who just beg this 16-year-old to start her cool brothel already, without ever exploring the actual lived realities of said sex workers... it just feels really cowardly?
also very hilary 2016 vibes with the susan b anthony suffrage arc and ms anthony coming to one of the girls' weddings jskdfhkjhflkjadhflkjsad just the entire politics of this novel feel really outdated already. it's sooo vote blue no matter who. which, like -- i don't disagree necessarily but the politics are just WILD and NOTTTTTTTT realistic for the era at all, which, as i said, is more what i look for in historical fiction.
it just didn't work for me at this point. it could work for you!! i think i would have adored this when it came out and i was a bit younger. the writing is superb, though it suffers from over-description syndrome, where the latter half of a paragraph is spent basically restating the first half, but the prose is pretty and there's so much research and specificity of everyday items, clothing, headwear etc that colored the everyday life and made it feel real. i liked what glimpses we got of a young seattle too.
February 14, 2018
In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, Asa Mercer traveled from Seattle in the Washington Territory to the mill city of Lowell, Massachusetts. His project is to recruit single women of good character to return to Seattle with him, to become wives to the loggers and and other hardworking men there.
He hoped to recruit 200 potential brides. He returns to Seattle with just thirteen. Among them are Dovey Mason, just sixteen, and fleeing her father's efforts to marry her off to a repellent man in an attempt to restore his business fortunes; Josephine Carey, 35 years old and fleeing a secret she shares with no one; and Sophronia Brandt, a minister's daughter in her twenties, with no more marriage prospects and a strong desire to spread the Lord's Good Word.
They are unlikely friends, but each being in her own way a bit of a misfit among the rest of the group, they find themselves bound together in the face of repeated challenges even before they reach Seattle. When they do reach Seattle, they find a rough, frontier town, and they each have to find their footing, in the face of a welcome that is sometimes not very welcoming, though they also find new friends.
Jo just wants to teach, not find a husband, for reasons she's not inclined to explain, though along the way Dovey and Sophronia have learned the truth. Sophronia, in addition to wanting to spread the Lord's Word, wants to find a good, Christian man who meets her high standards, so that she can marry. Dovey, more than anything, is determined to earn her own living and not lose her control of her own life in marriage.
It's a frontier town, and has its own unexpected opportunities. This is also the era when the suffragist movement is starting to gain steam, and the unlikely and sometimes contentious friends meet Susan B. Anthony and become involved in the movement themselves. It's an absorbing story of women on the American frontier, and the critical role they played in building the American West.
Jo, Sophronia, and Dovey are fictional individuals, but the Mercer Girls were quite real, and a vital part of the history of Seattle.
A very good story. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
He hoped to recruit 200 potential brides. He returns to Seattle with just thirteen. Among them are Dovey Mason, just sixteen, and fleeing her father's efforts to marry her off to a repellent man in an attempt to restore his business fortunes; Josephine Carey, 35 years old and fleeing a secret she shares with no one; and Sophronia Brandt, a minister's daughter in her twenties, with no more marriage prospects and a strong desire to spread the Lord's Good Word.
They are unlikely friends, but each being in her own way a bit of a misfit among the rest of the group, they find themselves bound together in the face of repeated challenges even before they reach Seattle. When they do reach Seattle, they find a rough, frontier town, and they each have to find their footing, in the face of a welcome that is sometimes not very welcoming, though they also find new friends.
Jo just wants to teach, not find a husband, for reasons she's not inclined to explain, though along the way Dovey and Sophronia have learned the truth. Sophronia, in addition to wanting to spread the Lord's Word, wants to find a good, Christian man who meets her high standards, so that she can marry. Dovey, more than anything, is determined to earn her own living and not lose her control of her own life in marriage.
It's a frontier town, and has its own unexpected opportunities. This is also the era when the suffragist movement is starting to gain steam, and the unlikely and sometimes contentious friends meet Susan B. Anthony and become involved in the movement themselves. It's an absorbing story of women on the American frontier, and the critical role they played in building the American West.
Jo, Sophronia, and Dovey are fictional individuals, but the Mercer Girls were quite real, and a vital part of the history of Seattle.
A very good story. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
May 2, 2019
A thoroughly enjoyable read on the true story of a band of women from Civil War depressed Lowell, Massachusetts and their journey to become eligible wives in the frontier, rough environment of Seattle. Libbie Hawker concentrates her fictional story on three women and the friendship that was formed despite their disparate backgrounds and beliefs...Josephine, the matron of the group, who truly wanted to become a teacher rather than a wife; Dovey, the rebellious, saucy teenager who wants freedom from her father, and Sophronia, whose desire to reform the evil ways of the West leads to many disappointments. Albeit interesting because of the historical fact intertwined throughout the novel (Asa Mercer did lead two groups of women to introduce to the rough and tumble men of the Washington Territory; Susan B. Anthony and the suffragette movement was an issue in Washington in late 19th century), the novel truly shines because of the women involved. Dovey and Sophronia particularly give comic sparks as they tangle with each other regarding virtue and vice in old Seattle.
February 1, 2019
Listened to this story on audible. Very good reader, and easy to follow the dialog. Category: historical fiction
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Although repetivitive in places, I felt the spririt of the west and determination of the suffragettes.
At times a bit too predictable, and I wanted to know more about the other Mercer girls than the 3 fictional characters the books tells us about. The authors notes at the end tie it all up.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Although repetivitive in places, I felt the spririt of the west and determination of the suffragettes.
At times a bit too predictable, and I wanted to know more about the other Mercer girls than the 3 fictional characters the books tells us about. The authors notes at the end tie it all up.
October 6, 2018
Interesting story
This book had the potential to connect the reader to both the nature of women and historical US life. Greater depth and less clichè in the characters would have made the story more memorable.
This book had the potential to connect the reader to both the nature of women and historical US life. Greater depth and less clichè in the characters would have made the story more memorable.
December 16, 2019
Fascinating story. I love it when a nugget of history leads to a good read!! Although the characters are fictional, the story is based on true events. (The author’s notes added nice background details).
A perfect vacation read!!
A perfect vacation read!!
Read
November 23, 2022Only got two-thirds of the way through before I gave hope that something interesting might happen, and put it down. Characters didn't draw me in at all.
March 30, 2021
Wide ranging, fascinating story from our American history...based on actual events.
January 16, 2020
Very good historical fiction but it was a little long and drawn out for me. I'm glad to have read it and to have been able to learn about the history of Seattle.
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