The Nature of Fragile Things

When I was newly married, there was a restaurant we would go to where there were several courses served as part of your meal.  Between courses, they would serve a palate cleanser so that you'd be ready for the incredible flavors of the next course. It was one of my favorite places to go out to eat.  When I read a book like The Nature of Fragile Things, I have to read something that is mindless while I mull over what I've read in the heavier/meatier book.  

This book is described as the story of the growing friendships of three disparate women, but it's also the tale of a serial killer involved in all of their lives.  If we look at the serial killer component, we see a man who takes on false identities, marries women who have some wealth that he wants, and then kills them off when they are of no more use to him.  

The women  populating this novel are strong in their own ways.  Sophie has immigrated from Ireland, but has the love to mother Martin Hocking's daughter, Kat, which is what Martin needs from her most.  Martin tells her that Kat's mother has died and that he travels for work so he needs her to care for Kat.  

Sophie and Martin have been married a little more than a year when Belinda shows up eight months pregnant on the eve of the Great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906.  This is where they find out they are married to the same man, and Sophie decides to get to the bottom of the issue.  With a couple of hair pins, the two women break into Martin's desk and find that, in fact, Kat's mother, Candace,  is still very much alive, but in a sanitarium in Arizona. So now, Martin has three wives, and from the information in the files they found, Candace is not his first wife.  

Martin shows up just as the earthquake begins and seeing that he's been found out begins advancing on the women as they are trying to leave with all of the incriminating evidence they need to turn him over to the police. At this point, Belinda's waters break and the shaking of the ground makes Martin unsteady on the stairs. He falls and Sophie moves him to the kitchen so that Belinda, Kat, and she can leave to get Belinda help in delivering her baby.  

Once the baby is born, the women are evacuated to refugee centers, but Belinda and Sophie are separated and it takes several days for them to find their ways back to each other.  At this point, Belinda makes the offer to Sophie and Kat to come live with her at the Inn she runs in San Rafaelo.  After a few days of settling in, Sophie takes Kat to see her mother in Arizona. 

Susan Meissner is the kind of author that once you read one of her books, you want to read everything she writes.  She is also the kind of author that writes meaty fiction that requires a palate cleanser before moving on to your next serious book.  Her characters are easy to  connect with, the settings in this book are historically accurate and easy to picture.  The ending of this book was especially satisfying with no loose ends to tie up.   Five Stars. 

Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.