It’s a fiction piece based on a true event in 1909 but I’m not sure I consider it Historical Fiction.

The premise of the story is based on a true event that took place in 1909 at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, WA – sort of a World’s Fair. At the AYP Expo a real infant, named Earnest, was raffled off as a prize but no one ever claimed the winning ticket. Jamie Ford’s book is based on this boy Earnest and what his life could have been. The narration goes back and fourth between the early 1900’s with Earnest as a boy and then in around the 1960’s with Earnest as a grown man. It’s a very unique story and was really captivated by it.

The book opens with a shockingly powerful scene of a Chinese mother suffocating and burying her 2-day-old daughter while her 5-year old son looks on. The desperation of this young mother is palpable. She then gives her little boy to a man who is to take him to America. Neither the boat trip nor the early years spent in Seattle are happy or easy for the boy who’s now called Ernest. But he’s a survivor and grows into a surprisingly sweet young man who finds himself raffled off at the 1906 Seattle World’s Fair. The winning ticket is held by a Madame, the owner of a profitable brothel. What might be another disastrous next phase in young Ernest’s life becomes the first semblance of family and home. He grows very close to the Madame’s daughter and to one of the kitchen workers who he first met on the ship from China.

Ford builds his characters carefully and they’re a work of art. His plot is woven masterfully and is sad yet not maudlin. Ernest is so likable, a true everyman’s hero. The two girls he comes to love are different and interesting in their own situations. A second storyline involves an older Ernest, now dealing with a wife who suffers mental diminishment due to contracting a sexually transmitted disease in her youth. He and his two adult daughters rally around Gracie who has periodic moments of lucidity. The mystery of just who Gracie really is contributes to the book’s allure.

This is a powerful and moving tale of love and loyalty. Another winner from a bestselling author who captivates readers with his touching stories of humanity rising above the fray.

Ernest Young first comes to Seattle as a 5-year-old. He is the product of an affair between a Methodist missionary and a Chinese woman who at the turn-of-the-century sends her child away to America rather than have him starve in China. After years in an orphanage, Ernest is raffled off at the World's Fair at age 12 and "won" by Madame Flora, the owner of the most prestigious brothel in Seattle. The story goes back and forth between his adult life in 1962 as Seattle is host to another World's Fair and his life growing up in the brothel with 2 young girls whom he adores. Which girl is his wife in 1962? Despite the gritty setting of this book, it is written in a way that is not offensive and definitely compassionate.

The book begins at the 1962 World's Fair, as Ernest (now in his 60s) is looking back on what brought him to America and his marriage to Gracie who has developed dementia. Ernest's impoverished and dying mother sent him to America in 1902 when he was 5 years old. As a half caste child he didn't completely fit in in either China or America. He wound up in a children's home in Seattle, Washington where he was educated until 1909. After he expressed a desire for a real home, his patron arranged for him to be the prize in a raffle at the 1909 World's Fair where he was won by Madam Flora (who suffered from fits of madness) and taken to her brothel the Tenderloin. At the brothel he developed friendships, and a love triangle, with Fahn and Maisie. The book alternates between 1909 and 1962. I preferred the story from 1909 and wished that the book hadn't alternated between the two periods. Life in the Tenderloin seemed a little sanitized, but maybe brothels were all sweetness and light and all prostitutes had hearts of gold.

This book has an interesting premise but it's execution dragged for me. There was a bland sweetness to the love story but no conflict or tension to make me want to keep reading so I wound up skimming a lot. The author withholds 2 bits of information, maybe to try to hold our interest: who is Gracie and what is the mysterious illness afflicting Flora and Gracie? Unfortunately, the answers are all too obvious.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Heartbreaking beautiful and unputdownable! I love Ford's writing style he always writes characters that you care so much about, he truly has a gift!! I will always read anything he writes!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Facing starvation, five-year-old Yung's mom does the only thing she can to try to provide a better life for him: she sells him to an American man to take him to the United States. At 12, Yung has been renamed Ernest Young and is being offered as a raffle prize at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition in Seattle. Unexpectedly, a high-end brothel, the Tenderloin, wins him to work as a servant at their house. There, Ernest becomes friends with and falls in love with both Maisie, daughter of the madam, and Hahn, one of the maids.

In 1962, the World Fair has arrived in Seattle and with it, memories of the AYP fair 53 years earlier. As Ernest deals with his wife's inability to remember him most days, he recalls their early days at the Tenderloin.

It took me a while to feel invested in the characters of the book, especially 1962 Ernest, but once I did, I really enjoyed the story and couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. It is crazy to think that a boy really was auctioned off at the AYP fair in 1909.

3.5 stars

Although I am a fan of Jamie Ford, this one just didn't come together for me. I was so engaged by the history and the plot, but somehow felt the characters never reached full development. The Young daughters especially felt too surface level for me. The present time line felt like more of an opportunity to discuss the past than its own story with conflicts that drove the book forward. I wasn't clear on what the stakes were for the present, and how returning to memories of the past changed very much in the present day. On the plus side, the imagery and historical detail were fantastic, and it was easy to imagine both worlds, and to find myself longing for a ticket to a World Fair. I'll still be rooting for Mr. Ford's next book but this one just didn't hit the mark for me.

Sadly, this is one of my DNF pile. I tried so hard to give this a chance but to no avail.

On one level, Jamie Ford's novels can be characterized as sweet, sad, tender love stories, where the main character is Chinese or half Chinese . If you've read anything at all about Ford, you know that his grandfather was Chinese. I love that he honors his heritage with his stories. But his stories are more than sweet love stories and tributes to his background; they are stories of substance. They reflect the history and society of the times of which he writes. Prejudice, the importance of identity, fitting in, what family means, no matter how unconventional it may be at times

For those who enjoy historical fiction this is a wonderful story. This is heart wrenching story of a 5 year old boy who is half Chinese who is sent to America by his starving Mother. He soon finds himself in peril when he is sold at the World's fair. His story comes to the attention of a reporter and the reporter pursues him and the story to highlight the plight of the Chinese immigrant children.
This is a sweeping safe and a very enjoyable read.

Ford's latest book is captivating. Ernest Young, a half-Chinese orphan, is sold into slavery by his destitute, desperate mother. As his life progresses, he is raffled off to the highest bidder, a madam who runs a sophisticated brothel in Washington. Against the backdrop of the 1909 Seattle World's Fair and intertwined with the life he made with a woman from the same background, the reader is inevitably caught up in their lives.
The book is so beautifully written that whenever it appears that life can no longer go on, the human spirit positively prevails.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes is a heart-warming romance set in 1901 and 1962 in Seattle. Ernest Young or “Young Ernest” was sent by his dying Chinese mother to Seattle as she couldn’t feed him and life for a half white and half Chinese boy would be hard. When he’s auctioned to the highest bidder, he becomes a servant in a high class Seattle brothel where he meets two girls he loves.

Jamie Ford really has a way with words. I honestly don't think I would have found this story so interesting if written by someone else. It follows the life of a young boy named Ernest who was offered as a prize in the 1909 Seattle World Fair (based on a true story) and is "won" by a woman who owns a brothel. The story is tender, heartbreaking, and beautiful.

I’ve loved every Jamie Ford book I’ve read. Although his subject matter is always somewhat sad, there’s always a great element of happiness - much like life. This is such a unique story and one I highly recommend!

I loved this book! I had read another of Jamie Ford's books and didn't really enjoy it, but the description of this really intrigued me so I gave him another try. I'm so glad that I did! I loved the setting and characters. I really fell in love with the story and definitely couldn't get enough of this. I'm recommending it to others for sure!

I very much enjoyed this novel. The setting in Seattle was interesting. The characters were real and gritty, as well as excellently developed. There is so much going on, and Mr. Ford has a lot to say in telling this story.
Many of his ideas are based on historic records and actual events. The Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and the Century 21 Expo were both World's Fairs held in Seattle. Also factual, the Washington Children's Home donated a baby to be given away as a prize in a drawing in 1909. Women's temperance and suffrage societies were at their peak during this time. They focused much attention on the social evils during this time like prostitution, opium dens, and dance halls. Politicians along with the cooperation of local police, often supported many of these social evils by looking the other way or joining in socially and profiting economically.Workers from southern China and Japan often ended up in the U.S. working as indentured servants or slaves.
Mr. Ford does a marvelous job of putting all these events and experiences together in telling the story of Ernest and his two loves, Faun and Maisie. The action moves back and forth from the early 1900's to the 1960's bridging their years from childhood to elderly. It highlights the moral and racial issues of both periods, and poses some significant food for thought that would be stimulating for book club discussions.
This is an excellent choice for fans of historic fiction, particularly anyone interested in the Seattle area and Asian immigration and influences during the early twentieth century. As I stated earlier, it would also be a great book club read.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I really enjoyed this book based on a true story about a 12 year old boy that was raffles off at the fair. That isn't even the beginning of Ernest's story! His mother makes the horrifying decision to smoother his two day old sister while he Ernest watches. He is then sent to America with his "uncle" because his mother is starving and unable to care for him.

Ernest's story continues after being raffled off and "won" by a madam. He meets Fahn (who he already has a connection with) and Maisie.

Their stories are mingled together through sadness, helplessness, determination and eventually redemption.

I usually love this author's work but couldn't get into this particular novel.

When we first meet Ernest Young, it is 1962 and he has been married to Gracie for 42 years. Love and Other Consolation Prizes is the story of their life together that started when they were young kids.

I am always amazed when an author can take such a sad story and turn it into something beautiful. This is a perfect example. A tale that starts with unthinkable horror changes into one of redemption, love and those people we come to call family.

This is the first book I've read by Mr. Ford. It was the last book I read in 2017 and it ties for top spot of my favorite book of the year.

ARC from Ballantine Publishers via Netgalley.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes is the kind of book that you can't put down once you pick up. The beautiful message inside the book is met with characters who will keep you interested and fully expecting more great things to happen.