Helpful Score: 1
I just love Belva Plain, and this book is I think one of her best...In this magnificent return to the world of Evergreen, Henrietta Roth, an extraordinary woman, fights to control her destiny;and three turbulent generations come vividly to life against a background of immigrant struggle, war and passion...
Three generations involved in the struggle of war while being immigrants. Historical novel at its best.
Set in turn-of-the-century New York, Plain focuses on irrepressible Hennie De Riveraaunt of Evergreen's Paul Wernerand. Hennie's stagnant existence ends when she begins dating Dan Roth, an impoverished science teacher and social reformer who despises the materialistic excesses of the rich. She weds him despite her middle-class family's objections and his earlier womanizing. The marriage is tested when Dan's activism alienates Hennie's wealthy brother-in-law, Walter Werner, whose father owns tenements, and when Hennie agrees to raise Leah, daughter of a dying factory worker. The girl matures into a shrewd, forceful woman who gravitates toward the Roths' exceptionally mild-mannered son, Freddy. While their relationship intensifies, Walter's son, Paul, weds affluent Mimi Mayer, yet he cannot dismiss his passion for Anna, his mother's winsome maid.
The author writes with "historical relavance", while insightfully depicting the class consciousness of pre and post WWI New York. This is a great family saga, which is well loved by readers of this genre.
She is a great storyteller! It is about immigrants in New York thru 3 generations.
When Henrietta (Hennie for short) de Rivera saw handsome and brave Daniel Roth risk his life in a burning building to save an old lady trapped in the flames, she immediately fell into a state of hero worship and actively pursued him. Even though her Uncle advised her that Dan would be a perpetual womaniser, she persisted until she became pregnant and forced him into marriage. Hennie was always a bit outside the family, rebelling against the strict upbringing of her mother Angelique's Southern, plantation girlhood. Her maternal grandfather was killed in the Civil War with Angelique never recovering from the financial and social changes to her circumstances. The family belongs to a tightly knit, wealthy, Jewish community and have raised their daughters, Florence and Hennie to conform to those ideals. Florence is the perfect daughter, obedient to her parent's wishes, but Hennie is very aware of the social injustices of the day and finds a soul mate in Dan. She marries him despite her family's misgivings and settles for a life of just scraping by on Dan's salary as a teacher. They raise Leah, the orphaned daughter of a friend of Hennie, with their son Freddie, a weak and delicate child who can never live up to Dan's expectations as a manly son. Leah and Freddie eventually marry and it is only after Freddie has enlisted to fight in WW1 and Leah is expecting his child, that the family relents. The tragedies that follow at first break the family then slowly reunite them in the 1920's to a better understanding of each other. It's a big family saga which will be loved by readers of this genre.
From the back cover - In this magnificent return to the world of 'Evergreen,' Henrietta Roth, and extraordinary woman, fights to control her destiny; and three turbulent generations come vividly to life against a background of immigrant struggle, war and passion.
In this magnificent retturn to the world of Evergreen Henriettea Roth as extraordinary woman fight to contro her destiny and three turbulent generations come vividly to life
In the return to the world of Evergreen, Henrietta Roth fights to control her destiny, and three turbulent generations come vividly to life against a background of immigrant struggle, war and passion.
