The voice crafted for this story about the family Booth is very well done. It’s engaging and representative of different family members characterizations. It flies along the innocuous and the narration is great (say, 4/5 stars on that front, not incredible but better than average).

What was a bit of a gamble for me, the premise that this whole family was interesting enough for this long a book, was more worth it than I expected, though still had what felt like superfluous content. The voice really does carry it at such times. In this case “truth” is stranger than fiction though, I bet, as the family is replete will all manner of foibles and wild occurrences and, as everyone expects: tragedy. Though they may not expect as many as are here.

There’s also an authors note at the end that talks about fact and fiction in here, and where to go next if you want more Booth family drama. I appreciate that, since historical fiction for me is all fiction, unless otherwise stated. I think this would appeal to just about everyone - it is that dramatic and often presented in a melodramatic fashion that befits the predominate profession the family was known for. Certainly a bit of an Americana vibe, which I didn’t care much about, but I think would appeal to those folks.

All around better than I expected but perhaps a bit overlong.