When I finished, the first words out of my mouth were "really? That's it?"
Expecting fun fluff. But it just never sparkled. And in parts, the writing was just unforgivable bad. But it was free, and I could definitely follow the action on a late night flight back from a vacation. . .

Perhaps a case of a historian cashing in on current events to tell a little-known story about something that should be better known, but heck, I love those kind of books!
Kreuger created a house of cards, built with matches, in the 1920s. He helped discover Greta Garbo. The crash of 1929 didn't immediately affect him, but when it did, it was an international, epic crash. Full of little, fun trivia (I may have read bits and pieces aloud to my folks while we were on vacation) and enough of the big picture. I don't necessarily understand all the intricacies of what Kreuger did, but I don't think that matters.

I didn't love this as much as Forgotten Garden. In a way, she was almost trying too hard. But--I do love that I kept thinking of Downton Abby. And I love that it was told from the perspective of a maid. And I love that we never found out everything about life after Riverton. Still a very satisfying, involving read.

A story of a dying, small town, a missing girl, and a wondeful woman who's nearing the end of her life. I really loved the characters, but I was also somewhat annoyed by some of the obvious and heavyhanded references to Willa Cather, Harry Potter, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's an odd little book, but still a wonderful read.