The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner ~ Book Review

Sophie Whalen is an Irish immigrant living in New York City when she answers an ad in the paper for a mail order bride.  Without meeting, she agrees to marry Martin Hocking who lives in California.  Sophie knows it's a marriage of convenience and that is just fine with her.  Martin is a widower who needs a mother for his 5 year old daughter and Sophie needs somewhere where she can feel warm, safe, be provided for and have a child to love.   But once Sophie marries Martin and moves into his home, she finds Martin though wonderfully handsome a strange and secretive man who doesn't seem to care for his own daughter.  But Sophie has her own secrets so she lets things be while she finds solace in building a relationship with 5 year old Kat.  When a strange woman shows up at the door with questions, it starts an unraveling  in Sophie's and the stranger's lives that leads them to yet another piece of the puzzle that is Martin Hocking.  With information in hand, Sophie and the stranger confront Martin and events lead to decisions that will intertwine and change their lives forever.  Then a catastrophic earthquake hits and actual survival becomes the number one priority.  

This book was a page turner.  I love the way Susan Meissner weaves a story and in this one she uses the April 1906 earthquake and resulting fires that devastated San Francisco as a physical backdrop to her characters complicated lives which are under going a personal shaking and devastation .  Once the story got going I found I couldn't put it down because I just had to know what was going to happen and what the secrets were that were all coming to the surface.  I loved the characters of the women.  It's a story of survival both physical and personal but also of friendship in the midst of the unbelievable and of the resilience of women to move beyond the devastating.  Loved this story.  

Rated it 10/10

Read Your Shelf Challenge met for November:  A book with a night scene on the cover

and Reading Challenge:  Read a book on hold at the library