Friday, March 30, 2018

Friday Memes: A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:
I will tell it. I will tell it badly, forgetting things that are important and remembering things that never happened. In that, this narrative will be no different than any other. Only the specifics of what is forgotten and remembered will distinguish it as mine.
Friday 56:
I was about to ask if the lady had been attractive when Mr. O'Reilly said, "She'd had a few, pardon me saying so."
This week I am reading A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks. I got this eARC from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:
Through her exquisite prose, sharp observation and deft plotting, Mariah Fredericks invites us into the heart of a changing New York in her remarkable debut adult novel.

New York City, 1910. Invisible until she’s needed, Jane Prescott has perfected the art of serving as a ladies’ maid to the city’s upper echelons. When she takes up a position with the Benchley family, dismissed by the city’s elite as “new money”, Jane realizes that while she may not have financial privilege, she has a power they do not―she understands the rules of high society. The Benchleys cause further outrage when their daughter Charlotte becomes engaged to notorious playboy Norrie, the son of the eminent Newsome family.

But when Norrie is found murdered at a party, Jane discovers she is uniquely positioned―she’s a woman no one sees, but who witnesses everything; who possesses no social power, but that of fierce intellect―and therefore has the tools to solve his murder. There are many with grudges to bear: from the family Norrie was supposed to marry into, to the survivors of a tragic accident in a mine owned by the Newsomes, to the rising anarchists who are sick of those born into wealth getting away with anything they want. Jane also knows that in both high society and the city’s underbelly, morals can become cheap in the wrong hands: scandal and violence simmer just beneath the surface―and can break out at any time.

11 comments:

  1. That's an intriguing beginning, because it really gives you a feel for the character.

    Thank for sharing, and for visiting my blog, Kathy,

    Have a lovely weekend. HAPPY EASTER!!!

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  2. Great excerpts and blurb. I also love that cover. Thanks for sharing, and here's mine: “SAINTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS”

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  3. I'm curious for more! Happy Easter weekend!

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  4. I picked up an ARC at the PLA Conference in Philadelphia last week. Still haven't unpacked it (or lots of the other books I came away with), but when I do, I'm moving it to the top of the pile. Hope you enjoy it!

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  5. "I will tell it. I will tell it badly, forgetting things that are important and remembering things that never happened." I should start every story I tell like this. So me.

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  6. That's a great beginning. It definitely leaves me intrigued. Happy reading! :)

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  7. That opening sure grabbed me. I hope you enjoy this one.

    My Friday 56 from Mystic Falls

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  8. Great 56. This sounds really good.

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  9. Love the sound of this one. I need to add it to my wish list.

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  10. Love that cover! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  11. A narrator who immediately undermines her own credibility XD Love the first lines! The synopsis is intiguing too.

    Ronnie @ Paradise Found

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