This book spans two world fairs in Seattle: the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909) and the 1962 World’s Fair. The novel is inspired by an actual and incredible event – the auctioning of an orphan at the AYP.

Ernest is a young Chinese boy who arrives from a destitute past to become a charity case boy for a do-gooder matriarch. Although he knows he is better off than in China, Ernest knows he does not fit in. He is half-Chinese, half-Anglo. He is with wealthy students at a school but always tasked with menial work. So when his benefactress decides to takes Ernest to the AYP he is thrilled. But then he learns he is the main event of the fair for that day. He will be auctioned off. Once again, he imagines a precarious future.

Yet the reader knows that Ernest’s fate, although difficult, is not as dire as he imagines. The author begins by interweaving Ernest (now a senior citizen) of 1962 with the Ernest of long ago. Today’s Ernest is also facing challenges of a different type, (but still rooted in his past).

The reader will fall in love with Ernest, as others do in this story. The backdrop of early Seattle – the Fair and the streets is vividly brought to life. Issues of racism, class, the role of women, politics and policing are seamlessly woven into this story. Secondary characters shine. This is historical fiction with heart and meaning.
Thanks to the Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Jamie Ford never disappoints. He has done his homework which serves to enrich the story and the characters. He grabs your attention immediately and takes you on a wonderful journey. Loved it.

What a story, Jamie Ford certainly does NOT disappoint! Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books, for the wonderful privilege of reading this advanced copy of Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford, inspired by a true story. A novel about people bought and sold in various degrees. A boy traded by his starving mother in China, brought on a ship to the US, and raffled off at Seattle’s 1909 World’s Fair,then ending up in a high-end brothel. His life transformed several times over by his circumstances, as he surprisingly survives and rises above. Well researched, and a romantic book, with wonderful characters. I highly recommend.

Not my favorite new book. The story was interesting, but I felt it dragged a little bit.

Love and Consolation Prices takes place in two time periods. Young, later Ernest is sent to America from China as a young boy, because his mother is too poor to take care of him in 1902. Upon arrival, he becomes a ward of the state and is placed in different homes. Based on a true story, he is auctioned off as a price in the 1909 Seattle World's Fair and is "won" by the owner of the Tenderloin brothel, as a servant. He is 12 years old at this point. For the first time in young Ernest's life, he becomes part of a "family" and he feels he belongs. He meets other servants, Fahn and others, the daughter ( who is known as a sister) of the Madam , the pianist and others and develops true friendships with them.
The other time period is the early 1960's where Ernest's wife, Gracie is suffering from dementia as a result of syphilis she developed while working as a prostitute. She hardly remembers Ernest or her two daughters. Throughout this time period, not much happens other than one of the daughters, a journalist is doing an article on the 1909 world fair and is trying to recapture Ernest's memories. I thought this part of the book fell flat and didn't really explain what happened between 1911, when the old story ends and 1962. I don't want to give the book away, but I really wanted to hear the connection between Fahn and Gracie, this was not explained at all.
As far as the early period, I found "young Ernest" as Fahn has called him acting way above his age. I had a hard time believing the actions of a 12-14 year old as described in the novel. These are the reasons why I took away two stars from my rating. Otherwise I felt, it was a leisurely tale of the red light district in early 20th century Seattle.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

I would rate this a solid 4. Nicely written. I really loved The Corner of Bitter and Sweet so I was really looking forward to this book. In many ways it was similar as in the plot going between scenes of the past and present, in this case between the Seattle World's Fair of 1909 and 1962. Although I have to admit I did like The Corner of Bitter and Sweet a tad more, this novel also is an interesting tale based on a true story. It is the story of Ernest, a Eurasian boy whose Chinese mother heartbreakingly sent him to the US to avoid poverty and starvation racking her homeland but also with hopes for a better life for him. After arriving in the US, Ernest was soon put up for auction by his sponsor as the "prize" at the 1909 World's Fair. Ernest's journey takes him to an "upscale" brothel where he meets two young women, (one he had previously met on the boat ride to the US), Fahn and Maisie, both of whom he cares for very much but in different ways. We also follow Ernest in the 1960s with his wife, Gracie and his two daughters. This is a gripping yet moving story of tender hearted love, racism, human trafficking, prostitution, determination and ambition. Excellent character development. An excellent read. I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

As I come to my last days of vacation, Love and Other Consolation Prizes was the perfect book to end with. This is a tender story of relationships and heritage, self worth and dignity, community and identity... in the midst of vulnerability, illness, and human trafficking. As he also illustrated in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ford has a gift for exploring the heart and soul of his characters. . . People who others might dismiss, ignore, judge, and/or stereotype. I really enjoyed this book and expect to continue processing it in the coming days.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

Interesting historical fiction novel. I liked reading about the world’s fair and the romance in the book

This is a beautiful story of a boy sold into slavery who ends up living in a brothel where he is loved and cared for. He grows up loving two very different women, one destined to be a prostitue, the other, a worker in the brothel who fantasizes about the life she could live as a woman of the house. He grows up to marry one of these women and to the place where the three of them enjoyed each other's company.

This was such a sweet story! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book for an honest review!

Jamie Ford as become an instant read author for me. I adored his other two books, "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" and "Songs of Willow Frost". Ford definitely knows how to pull at the heart strings and write with such grace and fluidity. I love that his own grandfather's story influences his books and that's no exception for, "Love and Other Consolation Prizes".

This story we follow Ernest who is recounting his life story to his daughter who is a reporter in the early 1960s. During this time Ernest's wife Gracie is suffering from Alzheimer's. With recounting his younger days he is also slowing helping her remember how exactly they met and dealing with the baggage that can come with memories. The story flips back and forth from the early 1900s to the 60s and the heart of the novel being Seattle's famous World's Fair.

I loved how the majority of this book was about finding a place to call home and how even the most unlikely and unusual places mean something to one person and something completely different to another.

Really loved this and I recommend Jamie Ford to everyone!!

After reading this book, I was shocked to realize that this is inspired by a true story. Knowing that, makes the story all that my endearing to me.
The book grips you from the beginning as Ernest is given up by his mother at a very young age as she is dying of starvation. He finds himself heading to America, gets auctioned off to Madame Flora. Although Madame Flora is widely known as running a house of ill repute, Ernest experiences friendship, first loves, loyalty and deep love for the "family" he is now a part of.
Author Jamie Ford tells the story of Ernest's life weaving in between 1902 and into the 1960's where you'll fall in love with tenderhearted Ernest as he cares for his Gracie in such a sacrificial way.

*Thank you to Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a love story based on a real story. Ernest Young, a half-Chinese orphan, is sold to the madam of a brothel. While working there, he meets Maisie and Fahn. Even though they are all friends, a love story develops between Ernest and one of the girls. It is interesting because the author does not let the reader know which girl Ernest ends up with until the end of the story. A great love story with lots of twists and turns.

Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, was historical fiction about the love and friendship between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese American girl in Seattle and during the internment in World War II.

In this book, Ford returns to the theme of a relationship between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl in Seattle, this time during a period for the most part bracketed by the two Seattle World Fairs, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909 and the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. It also goes back and forth in time quite seamlessly, as did Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

When this story begins in 1962, Ernest Young, now in his 60’s, is dealing with his wife Gracie’s memory loss. One of their two daughters, Juju, is a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, and she convinced her editor to let her write a then-and-now piece about the grand opening of the new world’s fair, seen through the eyes of those who happened to attend the original Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Expo in 1909. Her father is one of those, and she discovers to her astonishment that it is he who was the subject of a 1909 article she found about a young boy auctioned off at the Fair. [This is based on a real life story, although the boy named Ernest was an infant at the time; in this book, Ernest is 12 when the auction occurs.]

Juju wants to know his story, but how can he explain without revealing the secrets he and Gracie have tried to hide all these years? “What would Hanny and Juju think if they learned that their mother was once someone else - something else?

But Grace’s memory, perhaps spurred by Juju’s questions, seems to be coming back, and she herself contributes to part of the story for Juju. The doctor told Ernest this could happen: “the human body is a marvelous work and a wonder.”

Ernest explains to Juju that he left China as a 5-year-old during a time of war and famine. He was taken by an “uncle” to America to be sold. On the boat, he was put into a holding area with other children. One of the young girls, Fahn, was Japanese, first sold to China, and now being sold again. She was around three years older than he was. Nevertheless, he impulsively told her “I’m going to marry you.” She said, “I am sorry. No one will ever marry us.”

Ernest ended up in Seattle, living in a series of boarding houses. No one adopted him; “he wasn’t Chinese enough for an Asian family and wasn’t white enough for a Caucasian home.” He was sponsored by a Mrs. Irvine, a “crusader for virtue,” a cold woman who found offense in everything she saw. She told Ernest she wanted him to train to be a custodian. When he said he wanted to go to another home instead, she decided to auction him off at the Fair “for a good cause.”

But the winning ticket was held not by a family but by Florence Nettleton, a.k.a. Madam Flora, of the Tenderloin Bordello. She intended Ernest to be their houseboy doing odd jobs.

To his surprise he runs into Fahn there, working as a scullery maid. It has been seven years since they came over together on the ship, but she recognizes him and asks, “are you still going to marry me?” Fahn and everyone else assure him the Tenderloin is a wonderful place to work, and it is. Madam Flora takes in castaways and gives them jobs. [The story of Madam Flora seems to be modeled in part on the real-life madam Lou Graham, who was a famous madame in Seattle. In addition to running the brothel, she contributed a great deal of money to the education of the city’s children.] Indeed, without Madam Flora, he tells Juju, “I might have wound up as a street kid, eventually sent to a poorhouse, or a reform school that was more like a jail, or worse….” And most importantly, “If I didn’t end up in the Tenderloin, I might never have met your mother.”

He was immediately drawn to Fahn, but also to Maisie, another young girl with an unknown status at the house. Maisie told Ernest, “We’re like a big happy family at the Tenderloin; Fahn and me are like Irish twins.” She clarified that Madam Flora was her mother, although she told everyone Maisie was her younger sister; having a child was “bad for business.”

But Madam Flora is suffering from the advanced stages of syphilis, and has more and more days where she is losing contact with reality. To pay for her treatment, Miss Amber, Flora’s managing partner, decides that Maisie must have a “coming out” party. This happened when any of the girls destined to be “upstairs girls” turned 16; these virgins were auctioned to the highest bidder. Everyone is upset about it, but Maisie loves her mother and says “it’s only one night.”

To everyone’s chagrin, Fahn was upset that Maisie was picked instead of her. She wanted to be an upstairs girl, and Ernest was appalled. Fahn ran off to a lower class bordello.

Ernest is emotionally overwhelmed; he is in love with both Maisie and Fahn, and now it seems both of them are destined for a life he wouldn’t wish for them.

On top of the other problems, women like Mrs. Irvine, opposed to the idea of “immorality” in any form, were getting more successful. The Tenderloin received notice it was being shut down. Tragedy ensues all around.

At one time Maisie had told Ernest, “My theory is that the best, worst, happiest, saddest, scariest, and most memorable moments are all connected. Those are the important times, good and bad. The rest is just filler.’” Or as Ernest was told by “Professor True” who played the piano at the Tenderloin, “There are people in our lives whom we love, and lose, and forever long for. They orbit our hearts like Halley’s Comet, crossing into our universe only once, or if we’re lucky, twice in a lifetime. And when they do, they affect our gravity.”

Ernest finds this to be true.

Evaluation: This author has a knack for constructing beautiful love stories while at the same time filling in historical details of bygone eras. The issues he explores, like poverty, prostitution, cultural clashes, decency, and devotion, are well treated, and add depth and poignancy to his stories. This is an excellent book.

Jamie Ford has preserved so much of Seattle's history through his transformative historical fiction and given voice to one of Seattle's most multifaceted communities.

Ernest Young has had a tough life, but he's a survivor. We learn why as he reflects on his earlier years from his present-day in 1962. It was fascinating to learn about Gibson Girls, the Tenderloin, and the discrimination Asian Americans experienced.

Since Ernest's unique experience at the World Fair is based on a true story, I'm curious to know more about it. I'll have to find a published version since this was an ARC without acknowledgments and a possible author's note.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for ARC; this is an unbiased review.

This novel tells one story through two timelines: Ernest as a young boy in China and his journey to America at the time of Seattle's first World's Fair in 1909, and Ernest as an adult during Seattle's second World's Fair fifty years later. The past timeline has the rich historical details and cross-cultural tensions that readers expect from Jamie Ford's novels. The 1962 timeline felt a bit too "modern" even though that time is over fifty years removed from this one. Nonetheless, the events of Ernest's life (some parts based on a true story of a child who was a raffle prize) and the people he meets throughout all stages are gripping, unpredictable, and multi-faceted.

Another wonderful book by this author. Deep and meaningful. Well researched and made me read other events during this time period.

Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book.
WOW! I enjoyed this book immensely. The story grabs you from the very start. I didn't want to put it down and I found myself reading it at every opportunity. I love Ernest! Loved the historical connection to the Seattle World's Fair. This is a good read!!

Just wonderful! Although I admit I didn't find it quite as compelling as Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet, the way Ford incorporates Seattle history into this love story makes for a story I couldn't stop reading. Maybe I'm biased since I live in the area, but I loved the way Ford tells a story that links two historical events 60 years apart - the AYP and the Seattle World's Fair. I can't explain why I loved his first novel more since in many ways this one is similar, but I definitely recommend BOTH.

What a delightful love story! Jamie Ford does it again...this ranks right up there with her novel At the Corner of Bitter & Sweet.