Winner: 2019 IPPY Awards–Gold Medal
Winner of the NYC Big Book Award–Distinguished Favorite
Can the gates of perception be bypassed?
The year is 1911. A rash love affair with a member of the Irish Mafia catapults Luna Mulkerrins into scandal, murder, scorn and decadent friendships in Ragtime Manhattan. Escaping from the blaze of publicity, a new Luna emerges: Blythe of the Seven Gates. Her meteoric rise as a magician leads to fame, vaudeville, silent movies and the notoriety of a damaging court case. Can Luna reclaim her reputation and reinvent herself as an independent woman of the time?
“This book is as enchanting as the magic tricks within. Heartbreaking, thrilling and powerful, it’s a journey you won’t want to miss.” — Jo Niederhoff, Seattle Book review
Free on 1st - 2nd Aug 23
Reviews:
" A slow start, but once the major event kicks in, it becomes a much more interesting book to see where it would lead."
Reviewer: Angel for Bookangel.
Luna Mulkerrins, a seamstress from Ireland, is now living in New York. Married to an up-and-coming Magician, whose shows are beginning to attract attention, she seeks solace from his cruelty in the arms of her lover, Sean. But the success of the Magician's show and Sean's hotheadness lead to tragic consequences and Luna finds herself trapped by the outcome and the ensuing scandal. Fleeing New York, she makes friends with a set of decadent fops and she resolves to remake her life. From this she creates her own magic show, "Blythe of the Gates", using her own brand of magic to create her own place in society. But the past catches up with her and she has is forced to return to suffer the final outcome before she can be free of it all.
This is an very enjoyable book that started slowly and then slowly picked up as it progressed until I was page turning to see what happened next. The twists and turns in it surprised me from what I had originally expected from the plot, and it meant I was intrigued to see where it would go next. The characters felt real and the actions they they took resonated with the times they were living in.
The one interesting part was the magic that was used through the book, which is a little out of the ordinary, and if I was going to be pedantic would complain it should not be there. However, it was useful to drive the story along and I actually enjoyed the fact it was not explained in detail. I didn't find any issues with spelling or grammar, although some of the text to represent letters seemed to be a little overwhelming.
A slow start, but once the major event kicks in, it becomes a much more interesting book to see where it would lead.
Rating: 4Quicklink to this review
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