The Dilema of Charlotte Farrow Book Review

Avenue of Dreams Series

Book 2

SUMMARY:  The whole world is coming to Chicago.  Charlotte's whole world is coming down around her.

     While the rest of Chicago focuses on the enormous spectacle of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Charlotte Farrow's attentions are entirely on one small boy - her boy - whom she had kept a secret from her wealthy employers for nearly a year.

     When the woman who has been caring for her son abruptly returns him to the opulent Banning home, Charlotte must decide whether to come clean and face dismissal or keep her secret while the Bannings decide the child's fate.  Can she face the truth of her past and open her heart to a future of her own?  Or will life's struggles determine her path?

     The compelling story of courage, strength, and tender romance captures the tension between the glittering wealthy class and the hardworking servants who made their lives comfortable.

REVIEW:  This is the second book of the Avenue of Dreams series.  While you don't have to read the first one, The Pursuit of Lucy Banning, to follow the storyline, it is very helpful to completely understand the previous year of Charlotte's life, how she came to make the decisions she did and how Lucy Banning Edwards figures into the storyline. 

     That said, this was a really good book.  Olivia Newport did an excellent job helping her readers to understand just how hard life was for the working class in the late 1800s.  My mother's heart went out to Charlotte as she had to make very difficult decisions regarding sacrificing her needs and wants for her son while acting as if she had no connection with him at all.  The pain she felt as she heard him call another woman "Mama" and seeing some decisions made about her son's life while not being able to speak up due to the underlying threat of dismissal from her job if she did made my heart cry. 

      Check this book out (and this series) for some wonderful storytelling.

This book was provided by Revell for review without compensation.

 

 Available January 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

 

Olivia Newport is the author of The Pursuit of Lucy Banning.  Her husband and two adult children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books.  She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.