Olivia's dancing around the edges of the suffrage movement in 1890s Portland, OR. She's strong-minded but quiet, dreaming of a future as a teacher or writer, but trapped under her domineering father's thumb. When she's hypnotized on stage the night of her birthday, she craves the relaxing peace of it. But when her father hires the hypnotist for a private session to remove her rebellious thoughts and ability to protest, she finds the drive to commit to a position and fight back against the patriarchy.

This was a brilliantly-told piece of YA historical fiction dealing with the early days of women's suffrage in the United States. The paranormal romance angle was really innovative, giving a fun, dramatic angle to gender relations, politics and the silencing of women. Flawless writing and storytelling, with clear trouble taken to include appropriate historical detail. I appreciated the effort to give the antagonists clear, believable and appropriate motivation as well. Even the villains have reasons for thinking and acting the way they do. Excellent effort and highly entertaining read.

The storyline for the first half of this book was just depressing; the second half was repetitive. This is a prequel to the Banished Saga series, featuring the childhoods and early adulthoods of the three McLeod brothers (heroes in the series). I have book one on my TBR pile, but I'm in no hurry to read it since the writing changes from third person past tense in the prequel to first person tense in book one (at least from the excerpt of book one I read at the end of the prequel). Also, nothing is really engaging me in terms of characters or plot; just a lot of depressing back stories so far. I read this book for one of the squares on the 16 Tasks for Festive Season challenge.

1. Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor rmovement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the United States. --The Labor Department   

The labor movement concerns itself the needs of workers for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.

The history current and past of the movement is powerful, necessary, and needs wider exposure. It doesn't tell the story of kings and wars but of women, people of color, work, and hope. 

Happy Labor Day! Raise a glass to those that fought and fight for an 8 hour day, two days off, an end to child labor, living wage, safe working conditions, retirement, sick leave, paid vacations, ovetime pay. 

To all workers, may your labor be valued and your life be treasured. 

Here are wonderful romances that explore labor movement.

My lists are never in any particular order. Enjoy!

1.  An Uncertain Dream (Postcards from Pullman Series #3)  by Judith Miller

When Pullman Car Works employees walk out in protest of their wages and high rent, Olivia Mott is torn between her loyalty to the company and her love for Fred DeVault. Amidst the turmoil in Pullman, Fred is asked to act as a local delegate to the national convention of the American Railway Union, but when the delegates vote in favor of a nationwide boycott of the famous Pullman sleeping cars, Olivia wonders if Fred will ever be able to return to the company town. What will become of their growing affection for each other? Who will prevail in the company strike?

2. God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène Not a Romance in the tradionial sense but a love story as married couples fight for lives worth living. 

In 1947 the workers on the Dakar-Niger Railway came out on strike. Throughout this novel, written from the workers' perspective, the community social tensions emerge, and increase as the strike lengthens. 

3. The Awakening by Jude Deveraux

Amanda Caulden led a sheltered life on her father's California ranch -- until the day Hank Montgomery stormed into town. A hot-blooded union organizer with a taste for ladies and fine champagne, he sensed the fire that smoldered beneath her prim, virtuous beauty...and he vowed to make her his. 

Hank's assault on her orderly life made Amanda furious -- and all the more enticing. Slowly, he drew her into a world of sensuous pleasure: sumptuous meals and moonlit dances, carefree laughter and stolen kisses...gently stirring the sleeping embers of passion. But even as a fierce love rose between them, violent rebellion threatened to destroy the Caulden ranch -- and their lives!

4. Special Interests by Emma Barry

Union organizer Millie Frank's world isn't filled with cocktails and nightclubs…until she's turned into an unwitting minor celebrity. As if being part of a hostage situation wasn't traumatizing enough, now her face is splashed across the news. But Millie's got fresher wounds to nurse—like being shot down by the arrogant bad boy she stupidly hit on.

Parker Beckett will do whatever it takes to close a deal for the senate majority leader, including selling out union labor. Charming and smart on the surface, he's also cynical and uncommitted—an asset on the Hill. But something about Millie has stuck with him and when negotiations bring her to his office, Parker breaks his own rules and asks her out.

Parker can't understand how Millie has retained her idealism in a place like D.C. Millie can't believe what Parker's willing to sacrifice in order to pass a budget. But as they navigate their political differences, what grows between them looks a lot like a relationship…and maybe even a little like love

5. Watch The Hour by J.R. Lindermuth

n the 1870s in Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region, mine owners and their employees, particularly the Irish immigrants, are in conflict over working conditions.Private police forces commissioned by the state but paid by the coal companies are sworn to protect property of the mine owners. The miners know their real purpose is to spy upon targeted agitators and intimidate and break up strikers.The Mollie Maguires, a secret society some see as working to improve the lot of the Irish and which others damn as a terrorist organization, are viewed as an increasing threat. Benjamin Franklin Yeager is a coal company police officer. He does his best to follow orders while trying to be fair to the workers whose lot he sees as little different from his own. Despite his efforts at fairness, Yeager’s job makes him the enemy of the Irish.And that’s the crux of his troubles.For Ben is in love with an Irish girl.

6. Brass and Iron by Julian Edney

 A sweeping romance set against the labor riots of Chicago in the 1890s. The young Wyand returns from war to Chicago. He is broken with war nightmares. 1898 finds big cities in America the same: the ultra-rich live next to the desperate poor, extravagance flaunted in the face of the overcrowded hungry. Wyand finds no work except in one of the hellish southside factories. The poor neighborhoods are awash in brutal labor riots. Wyand stumbles into a labor mutiny where he saves the life of a beautiful worker, Kate, about to be killed by hired goons. She promptly rejects him as an educated boy, not her working class. He is smitten by her spirit and her beauty, and he pursues. She extracts a price for her affections: Wyand has to help her organize another mutiny against the stranglehold of their exploiters. She leads him into the labor turmoil across gang-infested streets. Strikes were illegal and brutally crushed, and twice their organizing is broken, and suffering and hunger fill the streets. But Wyand is hypnotized by Kate’s spirit. Jailed for striking, he returns to the cause and wins the respect of the workers. Seizing the moment after a bloody street battle, he picks up as a street orator and once again rallies the crowd of desperate and broken. Kate is finally impressed. Together the two work tirelessly to get a foothold in the struggle for justice. They plan a third big uprising against deadly obstacles. They once again confront the widespread fear, the factory owners, the law.

7. The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott

Eager to escape life on her family’s farm, Alice Barrow moves to Lowell in 1832 and throws herself into the hard work demanded of “the mill girls.”  In spite of the long hours, she discovers a vibrant new life and a true friend—a saucy, strong-willed girl name Lovey Cornell.
 
But conditions at the factory become increasingly dangerous, and Alice finds the courage to represent the workers and their grievances.  Although mill owner, Hiram Fiske, pays no heed, Alice attracts the attention of his eldest son, the handsome and reserved Samuel Fiske. Their mutual attraction is intense, tempting Alice to dream of a different future for herself.
 
This dream is shattered when Lovey is found strangled to death. A sensational trial follows, bringing all the unrest that’s brewing to the surface. Alice finds herself torn between her commitment to the girls in the mill and her blossoming relationship with Samuel.  Based on the actual murder of a mill girl and the subsequent trial in 1833.

8. Hearts Afire by Sara Luck

he toast of New York’s theater world, Sabrina Chadwick dazzled with her raven-haired beauty and brilliant performances. But her rising star came crashing down after a disastrous night of scandal and betrayal that left the young actress with nothing but a broken heart. Now the preacher’s daughter who found glittering success on the stage must begin a new life somewhere she can escape her shattered past as Sabrina Chadwick.

. . . to love’s shining light.

Lincoln Buchannan had no idea that the lovely lady new to Colorado Springs had been a star back East. The wealthy mine owner only knew that Victoria Drumm was stranded without accommodations in a city bustling with gold rush fever! Link offers Tori shelter in his sprawling home and agrees to help track down her brother, a fervent union organizer in nearby Cripple Creek. As desire flares between Tori and her rugged rescuer, so do the demands of striking miners in a violent and historic protest fueled by passionate convictions on both sides.

9. Starlight by Carrie Lofty

Sir William Christie, ruthless tycoon and notorious ladies' man, is dead. Now his four grown children have gathered for the reading of his will. What lies in store for stepsiblings Vivienne, Alexander, and twins Gareth and Gwyneth? Stunning challenges that will test their fortitude across a royal empire . . . and lead them to the marvelously passionate adventures of their lives.

An esteemed astronomer, Alex Christie, the eldest and most steadfast of the Christie siblings, has never possessed his late father's ruthless business drive. But to protect his frail infant son from his cruel father-in-law's bid for custody, the young widower must undertake Sir William Christie's posthumous million-dollar challenge: to make a Glasgow cotton mill profitable. At sea in an industrial world of sabotage and union agitation, Alex meets Polly Gowan, daughter of a famed union leader, who hopes to seize a mysterious saboteur without involving the police. 

Because a sympathetic mill master would aid her cause, Polly becomes Alex's guide to urban Scotland. From soccer games to pub brawls, Alex sees another side of life, and feels free for the first time to reveal the man--vital and strong--behind his intellectual exterior. Polly is utterly seduced. Their ambitions, however, remain at odds: Alex vows to earn the mill bonus to save his child, while Polly fights for the needs of her people. Is there strength enough in their sparkling passion to bind them together in their quests-- and in a lasting love that conquers all?

10. Echoes of Mercy by Kim Vogel Sawyer

When a suspicious accident occurs at the famous Dinsmore Chocolate Factory in Sinclair, Kansas, Caroline Lang goes undercover as a factory worker to investigate the circumstances surrounding the event and how the factory treats its youngest employees—the child workers. Caroline’s fervent faith, her difficult childhood, and compassionate heart drove her to her job as an investigator for the Labor Commission and she is compelled to see children freed from such heavy adult responsibilities, to allow them to pursue an education.   
 
Oliver Dinsmore, heir to the Dinsmore candy dynasty, has his own investigation to conduct. Posing as a common worker known as “Ollie Moore,” he aims to find out all he can about the family business before he takes over for his father. Caroline and Oliver become fast friends, but tension mounts when the two find themselves at odds about the roles of child workers. Hiding their identities becomes even more difficult when fate brings them together over three children in desperate need. When all is revealed, will the truth destroy the love starting to grow between them?

I have more! Check out my Goodreads list: Labor Day: Romance Featuring the Labor Movement.

Do you have recs? Gimme! My mind knows there is a Romance that mention Samuel Gompers but dang if I can name it! Help! 

The last time I read this book I sped through chunks of it to find out what happened next. Here's a quote that is an example of why (bolded bits mine, for oooooo, the foreshadowing):

p 39: "Ultimately the setbacks proved to be minor ones for Burnham and Root. Far worse was to occur, and soon, but as of February 14, 1890, the day of the great fair vote, the partners seemed destined for a lifetime of success."

Another example: page 18 - a long paragraph or two about a man pasting the results of the vote for which city would get the world's fair. The results are shared with the reader....on page 31.

These are the early moments that had me flipping ahead for an answer - or just turning to wikipedia. That way I could continue to enjoy the pace of the book and not always be annoyed because I had to wait an unknown amount of time for answers. Especially for something like whether Chicago gets the fair, because that's a given. (Still, I felt the need to check.)

It was the parts about H. H. Holmes that really made me read this book out of order. I'd never heard of this particular murderer before this book, and I wanted more information immediately. Afterwards I read a somewhat - well, typical true-crime book on Holmes in hopes of more detail. Which I received - but then you never do really get an answer for the why's of this sort of thing.

Anyway, in this reread I now know what happens and have all the background. So I'm going to take time to actually enjoy the fun details that Larson has dug up. Like this excellent bit on Chicago's Whitechapel Club. Am quoting a long bit of it, because the weirdness is so worth it.

I feel like this will be a hard review to write, not because I didn’t like the book, but because I did like it, and I’m finding it hard to explain why.

I mean, it’s a book about Chava the Golem and Ahmed the Jinny (genie) and the story of how they meet and why. I read in another review that the person called it a “fairy tale romance” which I don’t think it is at all, actually. I wouldn’t call it a fairy tale, and I definitely wouldn’t call it a “romance”.

The ending is not romantic in any way, but it felt true and as realistic as it could have been, considering, you know, that Chava is literally made of clay with no heart, and Ahmad is a genie in a bottle.

As I said Chava was literally made of clay and shipped off to the “New Land” (New York) to live with her new Master. Her new master dies on the trip over, and Chava finds herself alone in New York, but not for long, and that is how her story begins.

Ahmad is an old genie, who literally lived in a bottle for 1000 years, but is now released and somehow finds himself in a strange land (New York), and that is how his story begins.

We have different POV’s from different people, and I loved trying to make all the pieces into one big puzzle. A few times I was confident I had ‘gotten it’, but then something happened, and I had to realize, that I had in fact not ‘gotten it’.

With that said, I don’t want to give you the idea that it’s a fast-paced story with a lot happening, because it’s not. Yes, a lot does happen but it’s not fast-paced in any way. But then again, it’s the 1890’s so how fast-paced can it be?

All in all this is a very good book, with great writing, very likable characters, and a very interesting storyline, so what’s not to love?

4 stars