Cartier's Hope: A Novel

M. J. Rose

Jan 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

From M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Tiffany Blues, “a lush, romantic historical mystery” (Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale), comes a gorgeously wrought novel of ambition and betrayal set in the Gilded Age.

New York, 1910: A city of extravagant balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and poor immigrants crammed into crumbling Lower East Side tenements. A city where the suffrage movement is growing stronger every day, but most women reporters are still delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages. But Vera Garland is set on making her mark in a man’s world of serious journalism.

Shortly after the world-famous Hope Diamond is acquired for a record sum, Vera begins investigating rumors about schemes by its new owner, jeweler Pierre Cartier, to manipulate its value. Vera is determined to find the truth behind the notorious diamond and its legendary curses—even better when the expose puts her in the same orbit as a magazine publisher whose blackmailing schemes led to the death of her beloved father.

Appealing to a young Russian jeweler for help, Vera is unprepared when she begins falling in love with him…and even more unprepared when she gets caught up in his deceptions and finds herself at risk of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.

Set against the backdrop of New York’s glitter and grit, of ruthless men and the atrocities they commit in the pursuit of power, this enthralling historical novel explores our very human needs for love, retribution—and to pursue one’s destiny, regardless of the cost.

Ratings and reviews

This was a tale of two agendas and two cities, all contained within the 1910 confines of New York. With insets of social mores, family obligation, the glitz and glamour of the “high life” and the sordid underbelly full of back-room deals, exclusion, treachery and secrets. Into this arena we have the story of Vera Garland, thirty-two, single, wealthy and undervalued as a woman in society. But Vera has big dreams and goals, and a driving need to see equality and opportunity offered to all, not just men. To that end, she takes on a pseudonym, Vee Swann, and obtains a job as an investigative journalist, in the vein of her idol Nelly Bly. Understand that in 1910 – Vera should have been married with children, with no other real ‘interests’ than making a good home and raising said children. Women do not yet have the vote, conditions for the poorest in the city are dangerously unhealthy, and the road to self-sufficiency, particularly for women, is non-existent. But when her story (despite all the odds against it) is picked up and gains attention on the front page – opportunities open up in the most simple of ways – and she’s not willing to backstep. Still part of the “favored few” in the city, she’s got an idea for a new story that centers on the famed jeweler, Cartier and his ‘over the top’ sales techniques. She knows that not everything there is on the up and up, and has the damage to her family to both prove it and avenge. So we enter the luxe rooms of Cartier, meets one of his assistants, Jacob, and discovers that there is more to his story and the story she was coming to write than she initially expected. There is insets about jewels and the Hope Diamond in particular, little tidbits that help to build background for the reader and Vera, and as people’s secrets and motivations are uncovered, the story takes on a whole other dimension in intrigues and ‘what happens next’ that I never expected. From complete and complex characters with emotions and motivations that are easy to access to the solid grounding in the sights, smells and era of the story, M.J. Rose manages to transport and engage, keeping a complex series of sociological and personal elements running throughout the story, keeping readers feeling as if Vera was sharing her life in real time. With answers that she never expected, and opportunities taken, Vera is solidly juggling the elements until she finds her own version of an ending. The writing is stellar, the story intriguing and the sense of New York at the turn of the century is solid and easy to visualize. Another solid historic fiction from Rose – and I look forward to more. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

A masterpiece of historical fiction with history thrown, immerse the reader in New York City in 1910. This is the first book I have read by this author, but definitely will not be the last. Her detailed settings and character building is amazing as we follow the heroine trying to eek her way as an outstanding journalist, when it was still hard for women to step out of the household. Cartier, a name that is synonymous with brilliant jewelry, seeming mainly for the wealthy and the Hope Diamond take center stage. Bring in corruption, intrigue, greed and a woman's fight to seek justice for her father's death and her own career and there are many twist and turns on the journey to the end and a satisfying ending! Don't miss this one! I read this via NetGallery and the publisher!

About the author

New York Times bestselling author M.J. Rose grew up in New York City exploring the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum and the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park. She is the author of more than a dozen novels, the founder of the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com and cofounder of 1001DarkNights.com She lives in Connecticut. Visit her online at MJRose.com.