Anny P. (wolfnme) reviewed on + 3389 more book reviews
When Henrietta (Hennie for short) de Rivera saw handsome and brave Daniel Roth risk his life in a burning building to save an old lady trapped in the flames, she immediately fell into a state of hero worship and actively pursued him. Even though her Uncle advised her that Dan would be a perpetual womaniser, she persisted until she became pregnant and forced him into marriage. Hennie was always a bit outside the family, rebelling against the strict upbringing of her mother Angelique's Southern, plantation girlhood. Her maternal grandfather was killed in the Civil War with Angelique never recovering from the financial and social changes to her circumstances. The family belongs to a tightly knit, wealthy, Jewish community and have raised their daughters, Florence and Hennie to conform to those ideals. Florence is the perfect daughter, obedient to her parent's wishes, but Hennie is very aware of the social injustices of the day and finds a soul mate in Dan. She marries him despite her family's misgivings and settles for a life of just scraping by on Dan's salary as a teacher. They raise Leah, the orphaned daughter of a friend of Hennie, with their son Freddie, a weak and delicate child who can never live up to Dan's expectations as a manly son. Leah and Freddie eventually marry and it is only after Freddie has enlisted to fight in WW1 and Leah is expecting his child, that the family relents. The tragedies that follow at first break the family then slowly reunite them in the 1920's to a better understanding of each other. It's a big family saga which will be loved by readers of this genre.
