The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams

"Passion, redemption, and a battered old suitcase full of secrets: the New York Times-bestselling author of A Hundred Summers returns with another engrossing tale of lost love and female ambition that crosses generations. Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Mad Men world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family's past, and the hushed-over crime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history. Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the necessary support to her liminal position as a young American female physicist in prewar Germany. The arrival of Dr. Grant's magnetic former student at the beginning of Europe's fateful summer interrupts this delicate detente. Lionel Richardson, a captain in the British Army, challenges Violet to escape her husband's perverse hold, and as the world edges into war and Lionel's shocking true motives become evident, Violet is tempted to take the ultimate step to set herself free and seek a life of her own conviction with a man whose cause is as audacious as her own. As the iridescent and fractured Vivian digs deeper into her aunt's past and the mystery of her ultimate fate, Violet's story of determination and desire unfolds, shedding light on the darkness of her years abroad and teaching Vivian to reach forward with grace for the ambitious future--and the love--she wants most"--

This book is a real page-turner that doesn't really stand up to close inspection, but while you're in the midst of the experience you will definitely enjoy yourself. I just loved Vivian Grant - tough, wisecracking, ambitious, but vulnerable to the right man. Her personality just jumps off the pages of the novel.

The big question is whether or not Vivian's alleged true love is worthy of her affection. Without any spoilers, I will just say that I had my doubts, despite a fabulous meet-cute and incendiary chemistry. Based on this hero and the less than strong one from One Hundred Summers (who makes a cameo appearance here along with his wife), it is apparent that Beatriz Williams still needs to work on her heroes. I like them flawed, but the flaws she bestows on them are creeping towards inexcusable.

Violet Grant is a more problematic heroine than Vivian. A lot of things happen to her, but she remains passive and bossed around by the men in her life throughout the novel, even the love of her life. You can chalk it up to the time frame, but considering the author makes such a point of how much courage Violet displayed to have sought a career in science in the early 20th century, I was expecting her to take charge of her own life much more than she did.

I have now read all of Ms. Williams' three novels, and she is a talented writer of what I can only call literary beach reads that thoroughly entertain without insulting the reader's intelligence.