Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme that highlights books soon to be released, the ones we’re excited about but haven’t read yet. It’s hosted by Wishful Endings, and was formerly hosted by Breaking the Spine. Y’all can check out all of this week’s Can’t-Wait Wednesday posts here.
Title: Daughters of Nantucket
Author: Julie Gerstenblatt
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Publisher: MIRA/Harlequin Trade Publishing
Synopsis:
Set against Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear…
Nantucket in 1846 is an island set apart not just by its geography but by its unique circumstances. With their menfolk away at sea, often for years at a time, women here know a rare independence—and the challenges that go with it.
Eliza Macy is struggling to conceal her financial trouble as she waits for her whaling captain husband to return from a voyage. In desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free Black woman trying to relocate her store to Main Street. Meanwhile, astronomer Maria Mitchell loves running Nantucket’s Atheneum and spending her nights observing the stars, yet she fears revealing the secret wishes of her heart.
On a sweltering July night, a massive fire breaks out in town, quickly kindled by the densely packed wooden buildings. With everything they possess now threatened, these three very different women are forced to reevaluate their priorities and decide what to save, what to let go and what kind of life to rebuild from the ashes of the past.
My thoughts:
I do enjoy good historical fiction, and this deals with events I’m not familiar with. It also sounds like it has as its main characters women who are ahead of their time, who find ways to pursue things important to them within the boundaries society placed on them. I could be wrong. It could be nothing like that. But I hope it is!
What are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to reading this one too. Like you, I’m not too familiar with the events covered in Daughters of Nantucket, but I do enjoy books set in that time period. Plus, the story of these women really appeals to me. I hope you enjoy it when you read it! Hopefully I will get a chance to read it too!