Julie's Review: The Forgotten Room

Author: Karen White, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig
Series: None
Publication Date: January 19, 2016
Publisher: NAL
Pages: 384
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Loved how the stories ended up linking in the end
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: 1945: When the critically wounded Captain Cooper Ravenal is brought to a private hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, young Dr. Kate Schuyler is drawn into a complex mystery that connects three generations of women in her family to a single extraordinary room in a Gilded Age mansion. Who is the woman in Captain Ravenel's portrait miniature who looks so much like Kate? And why is she wearing the ruby pendant handed down to Kate by her mother? In their pursuit of answers, they find themselves drawn into the turbulent stories of Gilded Age Olive Van Alen, driven from riches to rags, who hired out as a servant in the very house her father designed, and Jazz Age Lucy Young, who came from Brooklyn to Manhattan in pursuit of the father she had never known. But are Kate and Cooper ready for the secrets that will be revealed in the Forgotten Room? The Forgotten Room, set in alternating time periods, is a sumptuous feast of a novel brought to vivid life by three brilliant storytellers. ~amazon.com

Review:  The Forgotten Room is a sweeping family saga that spans decades and is woven together by one room in a former Manhattan mansion. These stories are also linked by love stories that span lives and decades, love lost and love found. There is tragedy and misunderstandings; love and loss; passion and dedication.

I'm actually not sure which story line I loved the most because I think I loved all 3 equally. I loved the moxie that Olive, Lucy and Kate had. I loved that they were forging their way before their time. Each went against their family in their own way. For Olive it was putting herself in a house where she was seeking revenge; Lucy was the first woman to go to work outside the family business and Kate was forging her own path as a female doctor.

Each has their own story to tell and each woman has a distinctive voice but there is a thread that ties them. Is it the men they love, is it the room or something else?

I loved that 3 authors wrote this book but I couldn't tell where one's voice started and another ended. I loved each of the time periods that the book ventured into and explored.

If you are a fan of historical fiction then you won't to miss The Forgotten Room.

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