Kim Pritekel’s Unbroken is a beautifully nuanced, sometimes heartbreaking love story spanning nearly three decades. Jessie Lowrey first meets Heaven in 1918, when her family moves from Kansas City to Denver, Colorado, to work for the McGovern family. Jessie’s mother is a maid and her father is a jack-of-all-trades, doing groundskeeping and repairs around Greyson Manor. The girls are almost the same age, and 6-year-old Jessie has her own job in the household: being Heaven’s playmate. 

 

The novel is dual timeline, going back and forth between 1945 when Mrs. McGovern, Heaven’s mother who is dying of cancer, summons Jessie back to the manor to make amends, and Jessie and Heaven’s first meeting in 1918 forward. The story moves at a slower pace but it feels very natural, especially for the setting, and the characters are wonderfully well developed and believable. Even though Jessie and Heaven are forced into positions that take their lives on different paths than they ever would have imagined, the love between them remains unbroken. 

 

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.