A Fall of Marigolds
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
"September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries...and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she's made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her? September 2011. On Manhattan's Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers...the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn's eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I really enjoyed this book. There were many themes in it that I will be pondering for some time: an ‘in between place' that we retreat to when dealing with tragedy and how you can get stuck there; objects that have a history and story to tell - do we pay enough attention to that story?; across centuries some human stories repeat themselves, although we sometimes feel like what we experience has never been experienced before.
I look forward to my book group discussion about this one!
A Fall of Marigolds I gave 3 1/2 stars to. It was about Clara in 1911 who lost someone she cared about in a Shirtwaist fire and then goes to work as a nurse on Ellis Island. There she meets Andrew who's new wife Lily has died from Scarlet Fever as they were on a ship from Europe to America. She helps Andrew to get better and in the process brings him a scarf that had belonged to his wife Lily.
Then in 2011 we meet Taryn who lost her husband during 911 when she was getting ready to tell him that he was going to be a father. She had the scarf on her at the time and it's the story of this scarf of marigolds and how it connects these two stories and the women who had it.
