Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

Ernest approaches the fair in Seattle with nostalgia and pain in his heart. This is where so much of his young life took place, but the one he loves the most is not available to share it with him.

Through flashbacks we learn about Ernest's life, how he escaped starvation in China, to living in boarding school, to living in a brothel. Ernest learns about loss and love through his incredible journey.

I don't know if it is just my current frame of mind, but to be completely honest, I could never quite get fully invested in this story. I felt similarly to Ford's last book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. So perhaps he is just not my style. I definitely appreciated the story and the history, but for the most part, I found myself rushing through it.

I love when a historical fiction book revolves around true events that the reader may not of known about in history. This is the case of Love and Other Consolation Prizes. Ford sweeps readers back to 1909 Seattle's World fair. Like the previous two Ford books Love and Other Consolation Prizes is bitter and sweet at the same time.

I’ve never met a Jamie Ford book I didn’t like. Love and Other Consolation Prizes is no exception. Half-Chinese orphan Ernest Young is an intrepid little fellow in this story. He has lived through more than anybody ever should, at any age. Sold into a high-class brothel, Ernest finds family in surprising places.

If you check your history books, you will find that a boy named Ernest really did exist and he was put up for auction in Seattle in 1902. The rest of the story is pure imagination. But what a story! Ernest is painted with such wit and moxie he is hard to put down. I won’t tell you how his story ends because you will want to read it to find out for yourself.

Such a sweet and tender story told by "young Ernest"! I loved all the characters (except for Miss Amber) and kept turning pages to see how life would unfold for Ernest.
Advanced reader copy provided by the publishers at Netgalley for review.

'Love and Other Consolation Prizes' by Jamie Ford is another historical fiction book that takes place in the Seattle area.

The story spans the two world's fairs that took place in Seattle. When the story opens, Ernest Young is dropping people off at the 1962 fair. His daughter, a reporter, wants to do a story about Ernest, which causes him to remember what happened at the Alaskan - Yukon - Pacific Exposition of 1909.

Ernest Young was forced to leave China when he was very young. Surviving the ocean crossing was just the beginning. Once he has lived in Seattle a while, he is auctioned off at the fair to the highest bidder. He ends up in a high end brothel working as a servant. His life there is better, and he ends up befriending a Japanese girl named Fahn, and the brothel owner's daughter Maisie. Their lives will change in the short years ahead.

I felt like this was a pretty by-the-numbers story. I didn't feel particularly surprised by anything that happened. Seattle names and landmarks are liberally sprinkled throughout the story to the point where it felt like a bit too much. This author has written better characters and stories before this one.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Ballantine Books, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Ernest Young, “imported” from China as a young boy, becomes the ward/charity of Mrs. Irvine in the Seattle area.  At boarding school, though, he is a pariah and unhappy in his circumstances.  He tells Mrs. Irvine who solves the problem by raffling him off at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1909.  Unbelieveable, really.  And, Mrs. Irvine is aghast at the party who has won Ernest.  He makes his home in a parlor house in Seattle’s red light district.  There he finds acceptance and purpose, to the disbelief of Mrs. Irvine.

Ernest’s two great friends are Maisie, daughter of the house madam, along with Fahn who was sold to slavery from her family back in Japan.  The story follows the likely path of these three youth from 1909 to 1962.  Love and friendship are strong themes of the book, along with a history lesson of settling Seattle.

Ballantine Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Love and Other Consolation Prizes. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Five year old Yung Kun-ai was given away by his mother and taken to America. Seven years later, as a charity student in boarding school, Yung, now known as Ernest Young, has the opportunity to go to the World's Fair in Seattle. Little does Ernest know, but his life is about to change dramatically. Raffled off as a prize, Ernest soon embarks on a journey into a world previously hidden to him.

50 years later, as Seattle prepares for its second World's Fair, Ernest must try to help his ill wife, but also keep the secrets of their past from the couple's two daughters. Will ancient history destroy Ernest or bring him closer to his family?

Based on true events, Love and Other Consolation Prizes places fictional characters into the real world settings of 1902 through 1962. From rural China to a bustling Seattle, readers are transported to a time period where immigrants from Asian countries were seen as property. I was not really a fan of the shifting timelines, because the author deployed this method to build the mystery of Ernest's wife's identity. All this did was to ruin the continuity of the story and took away from my connection to the characters. Love and Other Consolation Prizes was a good historical fiction overall and is one that I would recommend to other readers.

Jamie Ford has again written a wonderful story of the love between a Chinese man and a Japanese woman during the two world's fairs in Seattle.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an advanced ecopy of the book. This review is solely my opinion.

You did it again, Jamie Ford. You took a place I love, mixed in interesting characters and surprising history and molded it into a wonderful story. For those who loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, here is another treat. Love and Other Consolation Prizes covers Seattle during its two world fairs, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition in 1909 and the 1962 World’s Fair (the one with the monorail and the Space Needle.) Chapters are clearly delineated, so the reader does not need to figure out which period is being discussed. (Lately too many authors leave you to guessing which time or character they are writing about in ”show, don’t tell” way that is not always successful.)

I know I really love a book when, captivated, I start it quickly and pick up the book as often as possible. The story starts, with the main character outside the gates on the first day of the new world’s fair, “loitering in the shadow of the future.” As I know I’m nearing the end, I slow down and space my reading out, subconsciously wanting to savor it some more.

Another sign of book love is that I go searching for images and information online. It pulled me in on different levels. The University of Washington has some wonderful old photos of both Seattle fairs. Because of Ford’s vivid descriptions, I felt familiar with them, but enjoyed browsing; like browsing a family album. In my searching, I learned that Ford clearly did his research about the fairs. Madame Flora in the story was similar to a historic and well-known Seattle ‘parlor house proprietor’ who died of syphilis at an early age. (The Netgalley ebook did not have the Author’s Notes, which I will try to read later.)

Simple phrases, such as “a package of unlit birthday candles, recollections of doctors and cold hospital waiting rooms” quickly evoke a mood without excess description. “He’d left China as a boy – during a time of war and famine, not record keeping.”

Ernest and his young female friends see the best and the worst of life. The laugh, they cry. This reader blinked hard a few times. I’d like to elaborate, but the spoilers would ruin the many surprises and twists.

Ford moves the plot along briskly as the characters develop. Chapter titles are melodic and create intrigue: Raining Stars, Rising from Grace, B Side, Angels in the Snow, Cardboard and Lace… The length of the book was perfect. It never droned on past its time and the conclusion, Closing Ceremonies, was not rushed or forced.

Book groups will enjoy Love and Other Consolation Prizes. It raises deep moral questions about prostitution, the role of chance in life, do you pick who you love or who you need?

I received an ARC through NetGalley. This Jamie Ford was not my cup of tea. I should have quit at some point because I just didn't enjoy any minute of this. I love historical fiction, but Seattle's brothel history...I could've done without. It wasn't dirty for being about prostitutes, but the story was just strange and frustrating. I did not connect with the characters.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes

A Novel



by Jamie Ford

Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

Ballantine Books



Historical Fiction

Pub Date 12 Sep 2017

I am reviewing Love and Other Consolation Prizes Through Ballantine Books and Netgalley:

Ernest Young is a twelve year old charity student at a boarding school, and the chance to go to the World’s fair is a gift to him. But when he gets there amongst the exotic exhibits, fireworks, and Ferris Wheels, he is shocked to learn he is one of the Prizes. He will be raffled off, a healthy boy to a good home.

A flamboyant madam of a high class brother, famous for educating girls wins the ticket. It is there that Ernest becomes the new houseboy and befriends Maisie, The Madam’s precious daughter as well as a scullery maid named Fahn. Their friendship and affection give Ernest the first real family he has ever had. Against all odds, this new sporting life gives him the sense of home he has always longed for.

But the Grand Dame succumbs to the occupational hazard and the world of finery begins to crumble. The three must grasp with hope, ambition, as well as first love.

Fifty years after the World’s Fair, in the Shadow Of Seattle’s Second World Fair, Ernest struggles to help his ailing wife reconcile who she once was, with who she wanted to be. All the while hiding the family secrets from their grown daughters.

I give Love and Other Consolation Prizes five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC copy of this book.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It reminds me of a Nicolas Sparks book...kind of like the Notebook. It is such an emotional love story of two world's fairs and the events in between that led to a wonderful marriage.

The book begins with a Chinese American man who is watching the World's Fair from afar because he can't bear enjoying it without the love of his life who is suffering from dementia. The book goes back in time to let the reader peer into the time when they first met and their blossoming relationship through the years.

This is a very sweet book about the love that the older couple has for each other. The contrast of the character of the wife before and after her dementia is very saddening and emotional.

A beautiful story of love in an unlikely place, Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford had me entranced from the beginning.

The story takes place in two eras in a man's life and both are in years of the Seattle World's Fair: 1909 and 1962. In 1909, Ernest Young is a young boy who has had a hard life in his short twelve years. Being the child of a Chinese mother and Caucasian missionary father, Ernest is sold and shipped to America with other Chinese children. Once in America he becomes a charity student at a boarding school and realizes his dream of belonging and having a family is quickly slipping away.

When Ernest gets a chance to go to the 1909 World's Fair he is beside himself. This is a once in a lifetime event! Every day there is a huge raffle and Ernest is astonished to find out that the day he goes is the day that a person is going to be raffled off, and that someone is him - a healthy, young boy. The owner of the winning ticket is a madam of a high-class brothel. Ernest finds himself in an unknown world, in a brothel, surrounded by some colorful characters that you can't help but fall in love with, working as a houseboy.

Interwoven with Ernest's memories are his current life. In 1962 he is married to a woman who doesn't remember him and the father of two daughters, one of which who is trying to find out the truth about Ernest's past. The story see-saws back and forth between past and present and it is a wonderful balance. Your heart goes out to all of the characters and the story itself and the writing of certain scenes in the story were very tastefully done.

This was a wonderful read and one that I am glad I took a chance on. Love and friendship, despite your circumstances, can conquer all.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Jamie Ford’s latest and best (Sorry, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, but you’ve been surpassed)! It centers on Ernest Yung, the illegitimate offspring of a Chinese woman and white missionary, from his childhood to middle-age. The story is told in a “then” and “now” manner, with alternating chapters that seamlessly flow together and inform one another. In the “then” parts of the story, we see young Ernest in China living in poverty, then sold and sent to Seattle supposedly to work for a wealthy family. That isn’t exactly where he ends up, but saying more would give too much away. In the “now” parts of the story, the true nature of what happened to Ernest and his wife Gracie threatens to be exposed by one of their daughters who is a reporter. In both segments, there are World’s Fairs (1906 and 1962) which are almost characters themselves, though with very different outcomes. The “then” narrative, in particular, feels very authentic, and one of the core aspects of it is a derivation of a bizarre, apparently true, event at the 1906 World’s Fair. The writing, as always, is a delight and engaging. Well worth taking time to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced copy of this book for an unbiased review.

I was so happy to get approved for an ARC copy of this new book by Jamie Ford. I'm giving this book a solid 3.5 stars. It is set primarily in Seattle, Washington. The love story of Ernest and Gracie Young are told through interwoven chapters that detail the beginning and twilight of their relationship. Ernest first meets Grace after being raffled off when he was an orphaned 12 year-old, at the Alaska Yukon Exposition held in Seattle in 1909. The Madam one of Seattle's ritziest houses of ill-repute, The Tenderloin, cornered the market on the raffle tickets so she could win Ernest and gain a general odd jobs boy for her establishment.

The twilight part of their story is told with the 1962 Seattle World's Fair as the backdrop. Having lived in Seattle for twenty years, I found it interesting to read about both eras in the city. To me they were historically accurate. This is really a coming of age love story, or love triangle story. Ernest was given up by his starving mother in China when he was 5 years-old and transported to America to jump from one bleak living situation to another. When he landed at The Tenderloin he actually found a place that he could call home.

By 1962 we learn that Ernest and Gracie have had a long life together, but she is struggling with mental deficiencies and rarely recognizes Ernest, nor remembers their life together. She lives with their daughter, JuJu who is a journalist researching the Alaska Yukon Exposition for a major article for her newspaper. During her research she uncovers the story of the boy who was raffled off, and was stunned to find out that the boy was in fact her father. She presses Ernest to tell her the story, and from there we learn about how Ernest and Gracie's decisions in the early 1900's brought them to the present day.

As I stated earlier, I've given this a 3.5 rating. The story was good, and I like that it was historically accurate. I thought the pace of events, and the things required of Ernest as a 12 year-old were a little far-fetched. His time at The Tenderloin seemed too compressed to have accommodated the storyline, and he would have lacked the maturity level that would have been required of him to further the story the way he did. So there were a few times I said to myself while reading this book, "Really? I don't think is how it would have played out." But it didn't bother me enough to put down the book.

I'm still touched by some of the passages, and the poignancy of the love story told here. We all are faced with choices throughout our life that may have unintended consequences. This book tells one such story from beginning to almost the end. With any good book, the author has left room in this story for the reader's imagination to supply their own final ending. Well done!

I've been a Jamie Ford fan since the publication of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I wish he wrote more books but, honestly, I'm glad he doesn't. The moment one of his books crosses my desk, everything--deadlines, meetings, dinners--is forgotten except for the magic of living in the world he creates. This time he takes us from China to Seattle--and just in time for the Seattle World's Fair in 1909 and bookends that with the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 (the fair of Space Needle fame). We follow a young Chinese boy sent to a "better life" by his destitute mother. After what seems like months in the cargo hold of a ship along with other children, including a Japanese girl with whom he falls innocently and bashfully in love, he arrives in the U.S. His hope is that he will be adopted into a family but, alas, he is raffled off (Healthy Boy--Free) at the 1909 World's Fair. The winning ticket? The owner of a brothel in a part of Seattle dubbed the "bottomless cauldron of sin and hellfire." The innocence he brings to his work (he starts as a houseboy and becomes a chauffeur) at The Tenderloin is life affirming. Humorous and serious at the same time, this book unfolds slowly and gently. It was a joy to read.

Four stars: A lovely story of hope and love that exposes the underside of Seattle.

At five years of age, a half Chinese half Caucasian boy is ripped away from his mother and his home, packed on a ship headed to America. The young boy barely escapes drowning, but eventually he makes it to the United States. He takes on the name Ernest Young. He spends the next few years attending different schools were he never fits in. Then things take a dramatic turn for Ernest when he finds himself at the World’s Fair in Seattle. Little does he know that he is the prize in the raffle. The person holding the winning ticket is the flamboyant and beautiful Madame Flora, a well known brothel owner. Ernest expects the worst, but he quickly finds that his new home is not so bad after all. He soon has a family, friends and even love. Will this hapless orphan finally find a place where he is accepted?
What I Liked:
*This is my first book by author Jamie Ford, and it won’t be my last. Mr. Ford quickly drew me into this tale. I loved the characters, the story, and the actual history. This was a moving book that made me feel all types of emotions from sorrow, horror, pity and happiness. This is a beautifully written book that kept me turning pages until the end.
*I loved that the story had a positive note of hope throughout even when things were dire. Ernest experiences all kinds of tragedy, but he never loses his ability to love. I was swept away by the love story, and I didn’t even mind that there was a love triangle because it was masterfully done. Besides, it isn’t too often that you get a love triangle with a boy and two girls. I also appreciated that there was a strong, enduring friendship between all three that stood the test of time.
*The plot moves back and forth in time from the early 1900’s to 1962. In the past, you learn all about young Ernest, and in the future, you see him as an old man as he finds himself revealing the past to his grown daughter. I liked the movement in time, and I thought that the author executed it perfectly.
*Mr. Ford did plenty of research and it shows. The story comes alive in his hands. I loved reading all about the World Fairs. I was especially fascinated to learn after reading the author’s note that the story actually was based in truth. An infant was really raffled off at the World’s Fair in 1909.
*This novel also exposes the darker side of Seattle from it’s brothels, whorehouses and complicit government servants, police officers and so forth. It is always interesting to learn about the seedier parts of society. The author also covers another dark chapter, the horrid treatment of the Asian population, and the human trafficking that went on. A terrible industry.
*The ending is well done, sweet and satisfying. No loose ends or nagging questions. I thought it was just right.
*Absolutely read the author’s note at the end. Mr. Ford discusses his inspiration for the story which I found fascinating.
*I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. I thought Ms. Zeller did a wonderful job, especially with the accents.
And the Not So Much:
*I wished that there was just a tiny bit more information on Ernest’s mother and his background. I wanted to understand his situation better.
*I was disappointed that there wasn’t more on Maizy. What happened to her during all those years? Was she happy with the choice she made?
*I enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Ms. Zeller, but I was confused as to why a female narrator was chosen when the story is told through Ernest’s eyes. Why not a male narrator?

Love and Other Consolation Prizes is a moving and beautiful story that showcases the life of a young orphan as he tries to find a place to call home. This book features an epic love story, that will tug at your heart strings. This is a tale that exposes the seedy underbelly of Seattle in the early 1900’s. I especially loved that this story was based on true events. If you want a riveting, entertaining and moving book, pick this one up.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated fort his review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

I expected to sit back and just enjoy this book but it was not an easy book to read, but rather another history of exploited children, and thank you Jamie Ford, for giving some of them a chance to triumph. I appreciated his sympathetic eye towards "ladies of the night," women working in the oldest industry on earth, often the only employment available, simply to eat. A backdrop throughout is the ladies temperance league who are unsympathetic female adversaries and bewilderingly uncharitable.

Ernest the orphan is given away as a raffle prize in the first exposition and returns as a participant in the second. These two events serve as bookends to the stories that unfold in the middle. In between are the ladies of The Tenderloin, a salon of the highest order and the world that they gave Ernest of the highest order. It's a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jamie Ford is a masterful storyteller. He does it again in his latest historical fiction novel, "Love and Other Consolation Prizes". The story is rich in character development and plot. The author has a way of allowing the reader to emotionally connect with the characters. This is a beautiful heartfelt novel!

Historical fiction at its best, based on a true story of a young Chinese boy raffled off during the 1909 World's Fair. The winning ticket is held by the madam of a brothel and Earnest becomes the new houseboy and finds a new family and a place to belong. The story of his early life alternates with the story of the adult Earnest struggling to help his wife reconcile her past with her present as she deals with dementia.