Review: The Gilded Hour

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An atmospheric, romantic, late 19th century novel weaving family, immigration, advances in modern medicine, women's health and serial killer into one extended story.
Loved the relationship between Anna and Jack. Loved the descriptions of Lower Manhattan in the 1880s. But too many story lines created a disjointed narrative. Plus there is a major cliffhanger at the end that could have easily been resolved in the defined pages of the book.
Additionally, I thought this was a stand alone novel -- but many of the characters and their history are descendants from characters from the author's Into the Wilderness series. I've read the first one, but not any others in the series and in many parts the author assumed you should know historical information from the previous novels and characters. I was confused most of the time and had to go to the author's website to find a genealogical chart just to figure out where everyone fit it in.
For the two weeks it took me to read this, I wish I had liked it better than 3 stars.

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