At the dawn of the 20th century, widow Isabelle Bishop still believes in love—but she knows only money can save her. After losing her husband and three of her children in a shipwreck, she has one chance to rescue what remains of her family: her daughter Mariah and her elderly mother. When Isabelle captures the attention of John Whitten, one of New York’s wealthiest men, she dares to hope that fortune might finally favor her.
But Whitten’s interest is not in Isabelle—it’s in eighteen-year-old Mariah, still reeling from a romantic but disastrous scandal. When Whitten discovers the secret mother and daughter have tried to keep buried, he uses it to his advantage, threatening to expose them unless Mariah accepts his proposal. For the sake of their survival, Isabelle makes a devil’s bargain: She will urge her daughter into a marriage she knows could destroy her.
Mariah quickly realizes her husband’s home is a gilded cage. Yet even under his watchful eye, she begins to carve out passions of her own, finding an unexpected ally in her ambitious maid, Hetty, and daring to imagine a life beyond her constricted world. Together, she and Hetty risk everything to claim a measure of power and self-determination in a world that attempts to deny them both.
From the glittering parlors of Gilded Age New York to the windswept cliffs of Rhode Island, Peregrine Hill is a novel in the tradition of Edith Wharton and the Brontë sisters, about unlikely love affairs and the impossible choices women have always been forced to make.
About The Author
Nina de Gramont's latest novel, The Christie Affair, is a New York Times and international bestseller, and the Reese’s Book Club pick for February, 2022. Her other books include a collection of short stories, Of Cats and Men, and the novels Gossip of the Starlings and The Last September. She has written several YA novels (Every Little Thing in the World, Meet Me at the River, The Boy I Love, and -- under the pen name Marina Gessner -- The Distance From Me to You). Nina teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She lives in coastal North Carolina with her daughter and her husband, the writer David Gessner.
Learn more about Nina at www.ninadegramont.com
My Review
This read begins in the glittering golden age of the early 1900's in NYC. We meet a family that has been devastated by loss, not only of money but most of their family.
Isabelle Bishop has lost her husband and three of her four children, they were traveling by boat from NY to ME and were lost in a storm. Financially, she and her daughter Mariah, and her Mother need to do something, and she decides to set her cap for a very wealthy man.
This shows the best well plans can and do go astray. Young Mariah becomes his choice, did feel sorry for the girl, and he holds her secret against them, so we go to the wedding.
I loved what Mariah does after the wedding, but was scary what happens, being followed everywhere, and even sadder when she really rebels.
The author did a great job of weaving this story, and the pages flew, I needed answers and yes they do come! This is a time when women have very little rights, and could be put away. I did love the spunk Mariah showed, and what she did!
I received this book through Ededwise+ and the Publisher Simon & Schuster, and was not required to give a positive review.
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