The Gilded Hour – Sara Donati

Novel Conversation’s Book Club – November 2017 Book – The Gilded Hour, by Sara Donati

For the November book club read, we tackled The Gilded Hour, by Sara Donati. My copy of the book had 747 pages and it wasn’t even large print! It was a very long book but it was really great reading. There were a few that didn’t like the book too much, mostly because it was so long. I’ll admit it was hard to keep track of some of the characters at first but luckily, the author has a list of the main characters and their relationship to each other at the beginning of the book. For a while I had to refer to it as some of you had to do as well. I guess that’s what happens when there’s so many characters.

It was New York in the 1880s and the author brought to life many of the issues that were prevalent back then. Women’s rights, or more correctly – lack of women’s rights – was definitely on the forefront and reproduction and abortion were key components of the story. Women were definitely not in charge of their bodies and anyone assisting women with birth control and/or abortion had the law all over them. I found myself thinking over and over – my, the times haven’t changed that much. As women, we still have to fight for our rights to have control over our bodies, or so it seems to me. And as I write this, I am appalled. How can that be???

One thing that was pretty refreshing was that there were some, albeit few, women doctors even back then. Who knew? Not me. Of course, there weren’t many and they were limited in who and what they could treat. However, the irony wasn’t lost on me that there were women doctors but they weren’t allowed to “properly” treat women. This was over a hundred years ago! It was fascinating.

I read there is part two to this book, although it has not been released yet. It’s called Where the Light Enters and is supposed to be completed by the end of this year. I know – almost 750 pages and the story wasn’t done. Maybe that’s indicative of the women’s rights – it’s never done. (Yes, that’s a reach but it works, so indulge me!) At this point, I am not sure when the next book will be released, but when it’s available, I will be in line to get a copy.

I loved the book, I loved the characters and I loved the writing. Anna and Sophie Savard are truly pioneers in their day and I can’t wait to follow them as they move through their lives.

In case you didn’t know, Sara Donati is a pen name. The author’s real name is Rosina Lippi and she lives in Bellingham, WA. She wrote the Wilderness series, novels tracing the history of the Bonner family in New York from the late 1700s to early 1800s. The Gilded Hour is about descendants of the same family, so if you haven’t read the previous series and you’re interested in that timeframe, it might be worth looking into. You can find more information on this website – http://thegildedhour.com.

Here’s the link to my favorite website for books!

Thanks as always for your participation during our discussion. We have a terrific group and most of you aren’t too shy to speak up and share your opinion. It makes for some lively discussions and I learn so much from all of you.

Thank you for coming!
Donna