Book Review: The Pursuit of Lucy Banning ... 3/5

Every once in a while I come across a romance where I don't identify with the characters. And I think it may be that they are just people I would not understand in real life. In this case the heroine Lucy Banning has a thirst for knowledge and loves learning in a time when learning for women was discouraged. She goes behind her fiancee's and parent's backs in order to pursue her goal of a degree. She calculates and plans how to escape notice. I think her goal was noble and in the end people understood that this is what she wanted to do. But it just seemed dishonest.


However, the book was really well written. I loved the setting in Chicago months before the world fair opened. I also loved how the Lucy's ex-fiancee's suffered from a mental illness and how it was portrayed and dealt with within the family. Lucy showed great compassion in going to the rescue of him, after he had stalked her and tried to kidnap her. I will look for Olivia Newport's next book to see if I can relate to those characters better.


I also love the cover picture... =)


Publisher's page about The Pursuit of Lucy Banning


Back Cover:

She has a secret to keep. But will she give her heart away?

Lucy Banning may live on the exclusive Prairie Avenue among Chicago's rich and famous, but her heart lies elsewhere. Expected to marry an up-and-coming banker from a respected family, Lucy fears she will be forced to abandon her charity work and squeeze herself into the mold of the well-dressed wife who spends most of her time and money redecorating.

When she meets Will, an unconventional young architect who is working on plans for the upcoming 1893 World's Fair, Lucy imagines a life lived on her own terms. Can she break away from her family's expectations? And will she ever be loved for who she truly is?

Get swept away into the lavish world of Chicago's high society as Olivia Newport brings to life an age of glitz and grandeur, stark social contrasts, and one woman who dares to cross class lines for what she believes.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".