The only regret that I have about reading this novel is that I did not do so sooner. I enjoyed it SO much in fact, that it is one of my favourite titles read this year.

I’ve always been astounded at the courage (or desperation) required for a woman to agree to be a mail-order bride. Sophie, after emigrating from Northern Ireland, lives and works for a while in New York. There she lives in squalor, in a tenement without running water or bathroom facilities, in a room she shares with four other women. She is so desperate, that when she reads a newspaper ad by a widower with a young daughter who lives on the other side of the country, in San Francisco, she applies right away. After a gruelling trip, Sophie is met by the man and they marry the same day at the courthouse. Though very handsome, he is taciturn and withdrawn. In the days and weeks following, Sophie becomes very attached to his little five year old daughter, Kat, but does not really bond with her husband, Martin.

Sophie’s husband works for an insurance company and travels often for work. Sophie doesn’t mind this, as she has everything she ever dreamed of. A lovely home to look after and a darling daughter to love. Then on a spring day there comes a knock on the door – heralding a visitor that will turn Sophie’s world upside down.

The day following her surprise visitor, Sophie’s world literally turns upside down. It is the day of the infamous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Sophie’s courage and stoicism during these tumultuous days following the quake and the resultant fires was nothing if not amazing. Sophie and little Kat will face trauma and challenges that will forever mark their lives. Along the way their fates will be intertwined with two other women. Women who have a profound affect upon their futures.

This was an amazing chronicle of the time period and the painstaking research done by the author is very evident. The characters jumped from the pages in their authenticity.

I was intrigued by the choice of title. “It is the nature of the earth to shift. It is the nature of fragile things to break. It is the nature of fire to burn.”. Many, many fragile things did indeed break during the earthquake, while the women portrayed in the novel showed that they were the very opposite of ‘fragile’.

The novel explored the bonds of friendship and solidarity between women. It showed a woman with tenacity of spirit that was commendable. It highlighted the resiliency and courage of women faced with adversity. As well, it showcased maternal love in ways that did not necessarily require a blood bond between mother and child. It is historical fiction with a strong feminist element, which also contains elements of mystery. Despite it not being a thriller, it did have a few plot twists.

Highly recommended. This is my first time reading Susan Meissner’s work, and I will be eagerly seeking out some of her other backlist titles.

This isn't the usual genre of books I read, so I was surprised how much I loved this! Susan Meissner did a spectacular job drawing me into the story, learning more about Sophie and Martin as he becomes increasingly more shady. I loved the blend of historical fiction, mystery, and family drama!

This is a story that will deeply touch your heart. One that will stay with you for a long time. Meissner is such an amazing historical fiction author, and this story proves that she just gets better with each story she writes. Stunning novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An interesting period murder mystery. There was plenty of growth and the little clues that you got throughout the book as to things from the past kept me wanting to find out more. A worthwhile historical read.

Meissner has such a gift with storytelling. I am always transported while reading her novels and it is hard not to become attached to her characters. Her books are wonderful! I do not tend to read a lot of Historical Fiction, but I will continue to pick up anything Susan Meissner writes. It's intriguing from start to finish!

This author has some of the most lush writing I’ve ever read. The descriptions and prose are just exquisite. Reading this novel was an immersive and intriguing experience. Beautiful work.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy of The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner. I love Susan's writing and this was no dissappointment. I loved how it all came together. Definitely touching and unforgetable. I will definitely recomend to others!

I love Susan Meissner's style: her historical fiction is gentle and hopeful and endlessly fascinating. However, in this specific novel, I wish we'd gotten to hear more details about the 1906 earthquake. I was so excited about that aspect of the story, but instead this felt like a novel that could have taken place anywhere.

I loved this book! It grabbed me from the very first page, and I couldn't put it down. A historical novel, it tells the story of Sophie, a mail-order bride who married a man in San Francisco she didn't know. But it's much more than a historical novel; it's also a mystery with varied plots that intertwine and delight! Who is Martin and what happened in his past? Who is Sophie, and what is she running from? Is Candace really still alive? What happened to Martin's first wife? There are many plot twists along the way. The writing was superb as well. I'm definitely going to be reading more of Susan Meissner's novels!

Susan Meissner once again excellently weaves a story around a true-to-life event (the 1906 San Francisco earthquake) with beautiful, complex, wonderful characters and a lovely story about love- most importantly, the love of mothers. With secrets around each corner, this is a completely entrancing story.

Susan Meissner truly swept me in with her exceptional storytelling; transporting me to San Francisco 1906 and into the lives of these characters. This was my first Susan Meissner novel, and I am impressed.

This book has it all. It’s a captivating story with a great pace. To read and imagine the mass destruction wrought by the 1906 earthquake was even more impactful to me as I visit San Francisco every year. The character building is excellent. The mystery is very well written—but mostly, I appreciated the satisfying epilogue.

What a great read! Sophie Hocking is one tough cookie, shaped as she is by the severely flawed men in her life. Several books I've read recently have reinforced the fierce love between mothers and their children. This one does so in the most dramatic and beautiful way.

Title: The Nature of Fragile Things

Author: Susan Meissner

Publisher: Berkley

Format: hardcover, but I read an e-book

Berkley gave me a copy for an honest review

Published On: Feb. 2, 2021

Genre: Women’s Historical Fiction

Determined to live a better life then she could have in Ireland or in the tenement in New York, Sophie Whalen answers a newspaper ad placed by Martin Hocking of San Francisco. He was a widower and father of a 5-year-old girl named Katharine. He didn’t want a new wife from San Francisco or someone who needed pampering. He needed someone to care for his child.

After a long trip, Sophie steps off the dock and is greeted by Martin. Shortly after, they take a carriage to the courthouse to be married and then go to Mrs. Lewis’ boarding house to pick up Kat. Sophie notices two things immediately: that Mrs. Lewis truly cares for the child and that Kat doesn’t speak.

Martin purchases clothes for Sophie and his daughter and they enjoy a wonderful lunch in their new home. This might not be a marriage of love, but everything seems so much better for both Sophie and Kat.

Sophie’s next door neighbor, Libby, arrives at her doorstep. Not only is she interested in knowing why she doesn’t have a maid, she wants to learn everything about Sophie and her new husband. In any era, one would call her a gossip. She’s also a snob. What Sophie needed was a friend.

Soon after, Martin takes to the road on business, or so he says. She is never told where he works and he disappears for days. She wonders what he’s not telling her. Is he seeing another woman?

In the meantime, Sophie tries to provide as normal a life as she can for Kat and hopes that in time she will be able to speak with her. When Martin returns, he doesn’t invite Sophie into his bed or show compassion for his child.

Then one day Belinda shows up at their front door when Martin is out of town. He had informed Sophie that Belinda, who looks like she’s going to give birth any day now, was his cousin. Belinda is looking for her husband who apparently lives at this address. That’s when the truth comes out and San Francisco experiences a powerful earthquake.

The Nature of Fragile Things was the best book I’ve read so far this year. It was good on so many levels. Sophie went from a bad marriage, to a terrible living arrangement to a mysterious and dangerous second marriage. She was praying for a better life and walked right into the unthinkable. And yes, this can happen to women even today. Though total strangers, both women believed the other was telling the truth and against the odds of survival during the earthquake, Sophie tried to see that Belinda and her infant survived. As for Kat, she’s a child whose own mother is believed to be dead and she’s left with an emotionless father. There is still more, which I won’t reveal because you have to learn about it yourself. The author did a great job in presenting the devastation and emotional aspects of this natural disaster. She also captured the entitlement of the upper class even among the ruins.

five earthquakes out of five

Denise Fleischer

gottawritenetwork.wordpress.com

July 6, 2022

THE NATURE OF FRAGILE THINGS is historical fiction with some romance thrown in. It is set mainly in the San Francisco area. The1906 earthquakes and resulting fires serve as the backdrop for a lot of the story. Filled with emotions and danger, due to the earthquakes and destruction, the characters are multidimensional. Everything and everyone are not as they seem!

Sophie emigrates from Ireland to New York to start a new life. When New York isn’t what she expects, she answers an ad placed by a widower looking for a wife and mother for his young daughter. Sophie travels to San Francisco to begin her new life, not knowing all that she signed up for.

Her new husband, Martin, is so secretive that it sets off alarms. When a stranger comes to her door, little does she know the upheaval her life will take on, especially when she and the stranger befriend each other. There are many threads being woven together, and Sophie manages to piece together a lot of her husband’s actions—they don’t paint a pretty picture.

I liked Sophie’s relationship with her stepdaughter, Kat. Kat may be young and quiet, but she definitely pays attention to what’s going on around her. She doesn’t talk much, and her father seems indifferent to her and Sophie, but Kat manages to understand a lot of what’s going on.

THE NATURE OF FRAGILE THINGS is filled with intrigue, as well as a heaviness to the plot. Secrets push the story-line, as do the bonds of love. The epilogue, which takes place twenty years after the earthquakes, gives some closure and ties up a few of the loose ends, though I wish it had gone on a little longer.

Ms. Meissner is a new-to-me author. Although I’ve had this book on my TBR pile for quite a while, it wasn’t until it was chosen to be this month’s book club read that it made it to the top of my pile. I look forward to reading more of her books!

I am not the world's biggest historical fiction reader, but wow. This book was excellent! I loved the characters and didn't want to let them go. San Fran is one of my favorite places to visit, and I feel like I will look at it through different eyes next time. This book had great highs and lots of tense moments- who knew historical fiction could give me a thrill!?

As a huge fan of Messner, I was very excited to read another story written by her. What was most interesting to me was the setting of the story. I couldn’t recall ever reading anything set during the earthquake of San Francisco in 1906.

Sophie is a young Irish immigrant looking for a life of her own when she sees an ad for a young widower looking for a wife. She answers it and marries him sight unseen, packing up her life and moving again from New York to San Francisco. What she wasn’t exactly expecting was being a mother to a young quiet girl and her husband’s many absences and even more his many secrets. Just as Sophie begins to piece things together, an earthquake shakes through San Francisco shattering her world even further.

Let me start with positives. Firstly, as usual, Messner’s characterisation of her main character is strong. We very much understand Sophie’s motivations and how she feels. We have a good sense of the surroundings of the characters at all times. I could see the house to an extent. I could see the park where they gathered post earthquake. The way the story unfolded once her husband’s deception became apparent was fascinating in a way.

But here’s the thing. This was marketed as historical fiction. I was expecting this to be a book that had the hurricane and how it affected the citizens be front and center. That didn’t happen. Instead we got the story of a deceitful husband and how he fooled multiple and killed multiple women. You almost could have taken away the earthquake entirely. It felt more like a plot device not the actual center piece of the story. And that’s a shame because the story suffered for it.

I hate to say this about Messner’s work because I truly value it. However, for me, this was a miss. Thank you for the arc!

A well-written novel about an event I didn’t know much about. The pacing was good and kept me interested the whole way through.

Jumping right into it… everyone really enjoyed this one! It was such a new refreshing take for a historical romance and being that we are all from the Bay Area, it was especially exciting to read about a historical event we’ve all heard so much about growing up!

This book starts off with an interview transcript that takes place after the events of the main story and that alone immediately hooked us as readers and made this story so intriguing. It continued to alternate between a first person narrative of our heroine, Sophie, as well as the interview. We all found ourselves eagerly awaiting the next transcript to find out what shocking things we were about to learn!

The story itself was beautifully told. Sophie’s story was admirable (although heartbreaking once you learn of her past), especially the things she did to protect young Kat, a girl she loved as her own. The story explored what it means to be a family and the lengths you will go to protect the people you love. While many of the relationships in this book are forged through less than ideal and even shocking ways, the way it the writing was crafted was nicely done.

What also made this fun was how there was an allure of mystery thrown in. Though some of us (myself included) wanted just a little more about a certain someone’s background and what happened in between the earthquake and the ending.

Sophie has traveled all the way from New York to marry Martin Hocking, a stranger. It is 1905 and she longs to be a mother to Martin's daughter, Kat. But Sophie really doesn't know Martin and San Francisco is about to be destroyed by an earthquake. This book kept me riveted from the very beginning. I love marriage of convenience stories, and this one is the antithesis to the romances I usually read, which made it even better. Susan Meissner is a master at creating layered characters in a historical setting that is well researched. This is one I highly recommend!

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">