Heather Kahan

I had a very hard time rating this book. The novel is beautifully written with engaging characters and comprises a sweeping colorful family saga. Some passages are so beautiful they are stunning. However, this book was a slog. It had every ingredient to be a 5 star masterpiece but the editor failed miserably in his or her job. There should have been at least 2 hours of reading time trimmed from this book and it would have been a hundred times better. There were several times I almost gave up on finishing it but I rarely do that and I love this particular author and had to see what all the hype was about. I’m glad I read it. The last 20 percent of the book finally got back on track after much meandering and unnecessary almost painful sidetracks, and became more engaging. The ending was beautiful and heartbreaking.