Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Not far from Luella and Effie Tildon’s large family mansion in Inwood looms the House of Mercy, a work house for wayward girls. The sisters grow up under its shadow with the understanding that even as wealthy young women, their freedoms come with limits. But when the sisters accidentally discover a shocking secret about their father, Luella, the brazen older sister, becomes emboldened to do as she pleases.

But her rebellion comes with consequences, and one morning Luella is mysteriously gone. Effie suspects her father has made good on his threat to send Luella to the House of Mercy and hatches a plan to get herself committed to save her sister. But she made a miscalculation, and with no one to believe her story, Effie’s escape from the House of Mercy seems impossible—unless she can trust an enigmatic girl named Mable. As their fates entwine, Mable and Effie must rely on each other and their tenuous friendship to survive.

The Home for Unwanted Girls meets The Dollhouse in this atmospheric, heartwarming story that explores not only the historical House of Mercy, but the lives—and secrets—of the girls who stayed there.

Review:
I feel very conflicted about this book.  On the one hand, this is an historical fiction novel that is rich with details.  Many of the characters are quite compelling.   And the subject matter, the House of Mercy (which was a prison for women and children disguised as a place to help these people), is a part of history we should all know about.  

But there were a few aspects of the storytelling that I found difficult to overlook. The author seems to use a particular minority group simply to further someone else's storyline.  And another character's horrible behavior was excused because she had a difficult life.  I think the bad outweighs the good, so unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book.
Setting:
New York city in the Gilded Age was a time filled with contrasts.  This was a moment in history where a select few had unprecedented wealth and prosperity.  Their mansions were just blocks away from the crushing poverty seen in the infamous tenement building occupied by recent immigrants.

The author does do a credible job of showing how both groups of people lived.  She shows the details of food, clothing, housing, and occupations that separated the lucky from the unfortunate.

Characters:
This book focuses mainly on three female characters, Effie (a young teen), her mother Jeanne, and a tough as nails older teen named Mabel.  While all three characters were well written, I really enjoyed Jeanne.  

Married to a wealthy businessman, Jeanne has been pampered most of her life.  But her privilege comes at a price.  She has to endure her husband's womanizing, her mother-in-law's criticism, and the disdain of her children.  But as the new century unfolds, times are changing.  Women are marching to demand the right to vote.  I liked how Jeanne comes into her own power and doesn't let her husband (or her children) define her.


Use of the Romani people:
I really was uncomfortable with the use of the word, "Gypsy" throughout this book.  While I did appreciate that the author addressed this in an afterword at the end of the novel, I still couldn't understand why she used that word again and again.  She defended it by saying that she researched this group extensively and  wanted to be "historically accurate".  But, it struck me that the author only had the Romani people in the book as a way for one of the wealthy characters to rebel, and not to shed any light on who they really were or what their plight was. 

While I am by no means an expert on this group of people, every tired cliche was used during scenes where the sisters visit the Romani.  The clothes were described as colorful, and the people loud.  There was exciting violin music and (of course) fortune-telling.  I felt like these were stereotypes from old black and white movies from the 1940's.

What I would have loved to have seen was any acknowledgment of why they were living in wagons and constantly on the move, or how hard their life was.  Instead of showing how they were harassed and pushed out of towns, the author seems to suggest the Romani were "free" compared  to Effie and her wealthy sister.  But freedom implies one has choices.  I doubt that if the Romani wanted to settle in one place they would have been accepted.

Emotional Manipulation:
The other aspect of the book that I hated was how the author worked hard to make the reader feel sorry for Mabel, while making excuses for her horrible behavior.  Yes, Mabel stood for all the abused and disadvantaged women of the time.  She was born into extreme poverty.  When she and her mother moved to New York there was one horror after another for Mabel.  I did have deep empathy for this character.  

But Mabel also did many terrible things (some truly unforgivable), and I was baffled that she didn't change much over the course of the book.  While she did do some good, she never showed remorse or took any responsibility for her actions.  One of the characters actually said Mabel shouldn't be blamed for what she did because of her unfortunate circumstances!  So she shouldn't have to try to be a good person because she went through tough times?
                   
via GIPHY



Rating: 




Release Date:  January 7th, 2020

Author:  Serena Burdick

Publisher:  Park Row

Genre:  Historical Fiction 

Page Length:  336 pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-book

Recommendation:  While the subject manner is worthy and the historical details rich, I cannot recommend this book.