*Megan Chance. A Splendid Ruin.
Read by Carly Robins.
9 CDs. 11 hrs.
Brilliance Audio. 2021.
Set in 1904 San Francisco, Megan Chance's novel A Splendid Ruin chronicles the changing fortunes of penniless May Kimble, who has just arrived at the request of Florence Sullivan, an aunt she has never met, to live with her family after the death of May's mother, Mary. May knows only that her father was very wealthy, and that his family forced him to end his relationship with Mary Kimble and their illegitimate daughter. Thus, May had never known her father -- or even his name. While the Sullivan family warmly welcomes May into their opulent Nob Hill mansion, May gradually comes to the realization that the family is rife with secrets. Her cousin, flashy Goldy Sullivan maintains a full and influential social life, but, as May soon learns, she also frequents the opium dens of Chinatown. The Chinese servant woman, Chin and others try to warn May, but provide no clues as to the reasons. May, whose life-long passion has been designing house interiors, is drawn to Ellis Farge, an architect and friend of the family, who admires her drawings and tempts her with promises to utilize her talents. Returning home one evening late, May finds her aunt dead and herself targeted as the murderer. Shocked and afraid, May is forcibly seized and taken to the Blessington Home for the Incurably Insane, where she is treated inhumanely, unable to escape or defend herself from the charges. Then, comes the San Francisco earthquake, destroying much of the city and reducing the Sullivan house on Nob Hill to a ruin. Fortunately, the earthquake provides May with the means of escape from her situation, because Blessington has also suffered damage. The rest of the audiobook recounts May's dangerous escape, her brilliant disguise and alliance with investigative reporter, Dante DeRosa, and her careful plans to redeem the fortune left by her father, but which the Sullivans had schemed to obtain.
Action-packed, Megan Chance's story is full of secrets and lies, schemes and suspense, interwoven with the tumultuous early history of this beautiful city. In this fully-voiced audiobook, narrator Carly Robins delivers an excellent and professional presentation of characters, especially of May. Listeners can see her evolve from the naïve, sheltered New York girl into the tough, self-sufficient and clever, young woman, who not only rescues her reputation and inheritance and reveals those who perpetrated crimes against her, but also carves for herself a new career as an interior designer and business woman. A Splendid Ruin will appeal to adults and some teens who love historical fiction, mysteries, adventure stories, and ones with a specific, intriguing setting and a strong female protagonist.
Reviewed by Susan Allison