When Ann Power, the most beautiful of the Donoghue sisters, meets sweet talking Michael Power, she is impressed with his looks, confident way and his managerial job at the local mine. Living in a small mining town in Ontario before the beginning of WWII, the Donoghue girls have led sheltered lives. It’s no surprise that Ann succumbs to Michael’s charms and expects a lasting relationship.

It takes only a few months for the feckless Michael to decide that feisty Lizzie Donoghue is more his taste. He switches his affections creating a love triangle and rift between the two sisters. What ensues is a very slow and tedious description of the demise of a never should have happened marriage between a naive young woman and a selfish, volatile alcoholic man. For me the story line wore thin early on. More of a romance than literary historical fiction, I grew tired of the plot, the wishy washy women and completely obnoxious Michael. Likely there is an audience for this type of fiction but it’s not me.

My rating is a lackluster two stars. The Donoghue Girl was published on September 19,2024 so it’s now available for fans of romance genre. My thanks to NetGalley and Literary Press of Canada/Latitude 46 Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed getting to know Lizzie in this universe, I thought she worked well in this universe and time-period. I was invested in what was going on in this historical setting and glad everything worked with the story being told. Kim Fahner has a strong writing style and the characters were everything that I wanted.

I enjoyed this book. The beginning felt a little disjointed but a little in and everything started to make sense. I liked that the characters seemed real and the book did not wrap the ending up in a neat little bow. Very well written. And believeable, interesting characters.

Lizzie wants to escape her family who lives in a small Canadian mining town. Thinking Michael Powers is her way out, they marry. More than passion is needed for a marriage to work. Her thoughtless words hurt her husband and her family. Michael’s temper and pride are also problems. The Donoghue Girl, by Kim Fahner, is the sad story of two people who can’t find a way to be happy together. It was a sad and depressing book.