“A Fortune of Sand” is Ruta Sepetys’s new historical fiction novel set in late 1920’s Detroit. The story unfolds amid auto industry wealth, gangsters and scandals. The first half of the novel unravels slowly but the second half had me rushing back to the book to get to the final ending! And yes, there is a twist!
Marjorie Lennox is an heiress in a family whose fortunes have been made through windshield manufacturing in Detroit. The Lennox family is very dysfunctional and often cruel – to each other and to others in society. There are also many family secrets. Marjorie is dismissed by her father because she is artistic and unfiltered – NOT proper for a wealthy heiress. She has a gift for fashion design, which her father labels as ridiculous. Marjorie sneaks away, with her siblings’ help, to a mysterious artists’ residence at a building called The Nightingale. The rules there are very strange, as are all of its inhabitants. As Marjorie spends time in her residency and becomes close with her colleagues there, she begins to realize that her family’s actions are a threat to her dreams and her future! How will she fight for her own independence?
I loved the character of Marjorie Lennox – she was a little naive, but was very kind. “A Fortune of Sand” was an interesting read, especially with Detroit as its setting. This is a novel that explores how the rights of women were severely restricted in the early 20th century. If you haven’t read any YA novels by Ruta Sepetys, please check some of those books out as well. I especially enjoyed “I Must Betray You” and “Out of the Easy.”
Leave a Reply