PROPER PURSUIT

Author: Lynn Austin ISBN: 0764228919 9/2007 INSPIRATIONAL Publisher: BETHANY HOUSE
Time Period: Chicago, 1893

It seems a perfect backdrop for what Violet Hayes longs to experience: a little mystery, a little romance. To be honest, it is more than a little mystery. She schemed her way to Chicago to discover the mother she barely remembered. As for romance…well, with the help of her grandmother and three great aunts, that is coming along nicely as well—perhaps too well. Each of her relatives—including her saintly grandmother—seems to have a separate agenda for her. In the course of a summer, Violet's world will open wide before her eyes. But in the wake of discovery, she must find a way to determine which path—and which man—will ultimately be the right lifetime choice for her.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Lynn Austin definitely knows how to create an engrossing read. I found it difficult to tear myself away from A PROPER PURSUIT, despite subject matter that I'd largely seen explored before.

Violet Hayes is twenty years-old, a respectable young woman with a successful father who is remarrying and wants her to find a husband. She has mysteries in her life though, as well as an irrepressible spirit, and persuades her father to allow her to go to Chicago and stay with her grandmother and aunts for a few weeks in the summer of 1893.

The aunts are four very different people who introduce her to aspects of life during the Columbian Exposition period. During the first fifty pages or so, I saw the ghosts of other novels pass by as the plots of various books mixed together to create this one. The thing that kept me going was a fabulous heroine. Austin took a different approach with her material though, and even though you can totally see the end coming by the halfway point, she does a beautiful job with three-dimensional characters.

I highly recommend the book, especially if you haven't read any fiction set at the World's Fair. The plot would be fresh to you then. Since I'm from Chicago I've probably read more about it than the average person, which may be why I'm jaded. Regardless, I loved A PROPER PURSUIT!

Heather Hiestand