"Count your nights by stars, not shadows. Count your life with smiles, not tears" Italian proverb
With its dreamy cover and lyrical title, I hoped Count the Nights by Stars would be an immersive reading experience, and I was not disappointed.
This dual timeline historical novel is set in Nashville at the historic Maxwell House Hotel and centers around the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. In one storyline, the characters experience the excitement of the Exposition in real time. Readers primarily see it through the eyes of Priscilla Nichols, only child of a socially elite family, who is chafing against the expectations of her parents and society. While staying at the Maxwell House and attending the Expo, she experiences far more, both thrilling and horrifying, than she could have imagined, and the people she meets alters the course of her life.
The second timeline is set in 1961. Audrey Whitfield, daughter of the Maxwell House Hotel manager, agrees to pack up the possessions of a reclusive long-term resident who suffered a stroke and is unable to return. While packing boxes, she discovers a unique scrapbook overflowing with ephemera from the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition which captivates her attention, especially as it includes newspaper articles about prostitution and several never-mailed postcards addressed to Luca and signed by Peaches. When a handsome young hotel guest assists Audrey to explore the history of the Expo and the scrapbook items, their investigation goes in unexpected directions.
I was completely captivated by both storylines in this novel. Through Ms. Shocklee's descriptive writing, I could picture the settings in my mind, especially the grand scope of the Maxwell House Hotel and the excitement, excess, and chaos of the Expo. And I was very intrigued by the wide array of characters, from sincere Luca, and Emmett, a secondary character with developmental disabilities, to rich people behaving badly, The author's note shares the novel's theme of "I see you" which was meaningfully illustrated through three key characters in very different ways.
If the name Maxwell House sounds familiar, it was at the historic Maxwell House Hotel that Maxwell House coffee gained its claim to fame.
Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers and NetGalley for the complimentary review copy. I learned so much history through reading this novel.
With its dreamy cover and lyrical title, I hoped Count the Nights by Stars would be an immersive reading experience, and I was not disappointed.
This dual timeline historical novel is set in Nashville at the historic Maxwell House Hotel and centers around the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. In one storyline, the characters experience the excitement of the Exposition in real time. Readers primarily see it through the eyes of Priscilla Nichols, only child of a socially elite family, who is chafing against the expectations of her parents and society. While staying at the Maxwell House and attending the Expo, she experiences far more, both thrilling and horrifying, than she could have imagined, and the people she meets alters the course of her life.
The second timeline is set in 1961. Audrey Whitfield, daughter of the Maxwell House Hotel manager, agrees to pack up the possessions of a reclusive long-term resident who suffered a stroke and is unable to return. While packing boxes, she discovers a unique scrapbook overflowing with ephemera from the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition which captivates her attention, especially as it includes newspaper articles about prostitution and several never-mailed postcards addressed to Luca and signed by Peaches. When a handsome young hotel guest assists Audrey to explore the history of the Expo and the scrapbook items, their investigation goes in unexpected directions.
I was completely captivated by both storylines in this novel. Through Ms. Shocklee's descriptive writing, I could picture the settings in my mind, especially the grand scope of the Maxwell House Hotel and the excitement, excess, and chaos of the Expo. And I was very intrigued by the wide array of characters, from sincere Luca, and Emmett, a secondary character with developmental disabilities, to rich people behaving badly, The author's note shares the novel's theme of "I see you" which was meaningfully illustrated through three key characters in very different ways.
If the name Maxwell House sounds familiar, it was at the historic Maxwell House Hotel that Maxwell House coffee gained its claim to fame.
Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers and NetGalley for the complimentary review copy. I learned so much history through reading this novel.
