Brown Bag Book Discussion

Beverly Gach will lead a discussion of Susan Meissner's novel The Nature of Fragile Things. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to read the book in advance. Ask for a copy at the library’s information desk.

From Booklist:

Downtrodden by her tenement and factory life in New York, Irish immigrant Sophie answers an ad for a mail-order bride. She is met in San Francisco by Martin Hocking, a handsome widower who needs a stepmother for his daughter, Kat, who hasn't spoken since her mother died. They settle into a modest house near tony Nob Hill, and though Martin is often gone for his work as a traveling insurance salesman, Sophie is happy, especially as she bonds with Kat. Until one day in 1906, when a pregnant woman named Belinda Bigelow knocks on the door, looking for her husband, James. It turns out that Martin wasn't entirely truthful about his work, and as Sophie and Belinda uncover the worst of his lies, Martin comes home. There is a terrible fight, but before they can deal with the aftermath, the great earthquake hits, and soon Sophie, Belinda, and Kat are traversing the fire-ravaged city. Meissner's latest is her best yet, an ultimately uplifting story of strong women and found family.