May-Dec romance in the 1800?s causes quit a stir. Good read.

Shimmering, atmospheric writing drew me in, but is excellent technique enough? No. Linen sheets cannot compensate for a lumpy straw mattress.

I slogged along hoping that a bright twist would turn the narrative toward an insightful, meaningful course, but alas.

The premise: a privileged, educated 15-year-old finds her romantic and intellectual match in a married-with-children 40-something. Really? Really?!?

Off to cleanse my palate with [b:Difficult Women|28818921|Difficult Women|Roxane Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478773519s/28818921.jpg|51184496], by Roxanne Gay. ( )

a bit too much detail on clothing styles at the turn of the 19th-20th century to hold my interest. Story line was ok but not rivetting. ( )

I don't get the obsession between Olympia and John Haskell; their behaviour is more than love. It's lust. Thankfully, the book was redeemed by Shreve's insertion of dramatic scenes at the appropriate juncture (when you are beginning to be bored by the book) and its themes (what is right and wrong, and parental love). Most readers must have read with bated breadth at the scene where Olympia's and John's relationship was uncovered. Shreve did not went into detail on what they went through but you can imagine. I am glad Shreve chose to deal with this important juncture in the book in this way, sparing you the ugly scenes. ( )

I have read other books by Shreve. Some I liked very much. Others I put on the bottom of my list of disliked books. After reading this one I have decided I will not purchase another, and probably will not read another, unless I have reason to believe it is worth reading.

The story takes place at the turn of the 20th century, and features Olympia Biddeford, fifteen at the start of the novel and a member of the privileged class. she is enjoying a stay at the family's summer "cottage" on the beach in Fortune's Rocks, New Hampshire. She has been given an unusual education, taught by her father, and is therefore well-read and capable of analysis and thought.

Her father gives her a small volume of stories, written by a man who will soon be the family's guest at dinner, John Haskell. Olympia retires to her room and finds herself caught up in the stories of mill town workers. Each story is a portrait of one person or family caught up in the poverty and dreadful conditions of working and living in the nearby mill towns.

That night she meets John Haskell and is immediately drawn to him. While discoursing (at her father's urging) on the stories, she is impressed by the thinking of the writer, and by something beyond his mind. It isn't long before Olympia and John Haskell are an item - a very secret one.

Olympia set upon an affair with a married man almost three times her age. She is so drawn to him that she cannot see her feelings as wrong, although she does worry about his wife and how she would feel if she were to discover them. Both Haskell and Biddeford fret over the situation but do not cut off relations, or even entertain such thoughts seriously or for long.

We are treated to Olympia's longing in page after page of detail. We are spared the intimate details of their coupling, although the first time we do see the blood on the sheets.

Olympia is intelligent and straightforward, within the limits of proper society. She does not feel it is wrong to love another, especially in the way she loves Haskell and he, apparently, loves her. She is, to use the term of the day, headstrong. A less formidable young woman might not have gone where she went.

Their actions lead to explosive results and change Olympia's life path forever. She remains, throughout hard times, resolute in her love for Haskell and in her belief in herself. In this, is she a product of another time? I'm not sure; it's possible that her wide-ranging reading has created a stronger character than her parents ever expected.

******Spoiler alert! I may be revealing too much from here on. ******

When Olympia discovers she is pregnant, she wants to keep the baby. Her father has other ideas. It is only three years after her son's birth that Olympia finally sees a way to claim her son, who has been taken into the foster care system and is being cared for by a "Franco" couple who work in the mills. Essentially, the crux of the novel rests on the court case she brings to recover her child. The case is modeled after actual cases of the time.

The novel exposes the lack of rights of women, the dreadful working conditions in the mills, the flouting of minimal child labor laws, and the orphanage system of the time. None of this is particularly new information for most of us, I believe. The inordinate amount of paper lost to Olympia's expressions of love for Haskell tired and irritated me beyond end. Was the point that this was an extraordinary love? Certainly it was unusual, given the age differences. I felt that Haskell took advantage, regardless of Olympia's inciting of the affair, that Shreve went out of her way to provide him with cover for what amounts to statutory rape. Ultimately I found Olympia and Haskell both self-centered and not particularly likeable. It didn't work for me.
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