San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn’t see it that way…until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly, charmed by the attention Houdini pays her and entranced by his sexual magnetism, Charmian’s eyes open to a world of possibilities that could be her escape.
As Charmian grapples with her urge to explore the forbidden, Jack’s increasingly reckless behavior threatens her dedication. Now torn between two of history’s most mysterious and charismatic figures, she must find the courage to forge her own path, even as she fears the loss of everything she holds dear.
(Summary and pic from goodreads.com)
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Review: One of my favorite things about historical fiction, or
historical fact-based fiction, is that I learn about connections in history I
didn’t know about before. I am, of course, talking about this book in
particular, but it seems to happen a lot. Did you know that Jack London’s
second wife, Charmian London, had an alleged affair (and I don’t know how
extensive it was, the book is fiction) with Harry Houdini? It didn’t even occur
to me that Jack London and Harry Houdini lived at the same time, let alone had
a relationship, let alone that Harry Houdini would then have an affair with
Jack London’s wife. I mean, my mind is blown. Maybe you do a better job of
putting history together than I do, but I love finding out these little fun
facts. Even though this book embellishes the relationship between Houdini and
Charmian, the fact that there was any relationship at all is just fascinating
to me.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was learning
more about both Jack London and Harry Houdini. I feel like Harry Houdini is on
everybody’s radar—he’s still legendary, even with all of the magic acts that
that go on today. He is, without a doubt, a legend. I didn’t know as much about
Jack London. I knew he was an author, but I didn’t realize how prolific he was
or how popular he was at the time. His books are still popular today, of
course, but at the time he was really, really famous. This is something else I
love about historical books—they can give you an idea of what was popular then
and how it relates to our history in general. Just like we have popular authors
today and popular magicians today who have made an impact on our culture, these
two made a huge cultural impact on people living at that time.
Another thing I love about historical fiction is that it
gives a cultural glimpse into what life was like back then. I am fascinated by
how people used to live—what they ate, what they did, where they lived, what
they saw, etc. Good historical fiction does a great job of transporting the
reader back to time and place. I feel that this book did a good job of that.
There were cultural things that existed then that don’t exist now, especially
in regard to food and servants and medical treatment. I don’t know about you, but
I am forever grateful for modern medicine when I read about historical medical
treatments.
Although I found the content of this book to be really
interesting, I didn’t always love the execution. It was very much a women’s literature
book, and at times it felt like a romance novel. I’m not saying this because
there was excessive, descriptive sex or something (although there was some),
but the emotional instability of the women and the somewhat cheesy writing in
regards to the women’s thoughts and feelings made it feel like a women’s lit
book. I know some people really enjoy that, I’m not necessarily one of them. These
were strong female characters, don’t get me wrong, and they definitely had some
depth to them, I just felt like the writing was a little cheesy at times in
regards to them and their relationships with the men. I am not a romance novel
reader, however, and I think that this part of the writing could be more on par
with romance novel writing, albeit very tame romance novel writing.
If you are interested in history, especially Jack London
and Harry Houdini, I think this would be an interesting book for you to check
out. As mentioned above, much of it is fiction, although it is based on the
real relationships between the men and women in this book, which I found to be
fascinating and also really surprising.
My Rating: 3 stars
For the sensitive
reader: There is some language and discussion of sex.
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