Castles in the Air

by Patricia Gallagher

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380005700
• ISBN13: 9780380005703
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 565 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Despite the cover, this is so much more than an historical romance

Castles in the Air begins at the end of the Civil War as Devon Marshall's father commits suicide after the building containing his newspaper business burns to ashes. Devon realizes that the only way to continue a career as a journalist is to strike out for New York, so she breaks off her engagement to an injured war veteran and finagles her way onto the private rail car of banking tycoon Keith Curtis who makes her an offer she can't refuse. Once in New York and not wanting to depend on Curtis for support, Devon strikes out on her own, but she soon finds that obtaining employment as a female journalist is virtually impossible without connections and takes other jobs instead -- jobs that end up with unforeseen complications. Married Curtis can't forget Devon and rescues her from her latest job as one of the "birds" in a cage at a notorious saloon and unwilling to fight him any longer Devon agrees to become Curtis' mistress (his wife is an invalid, or is she just pretending to be paralyzed?) and as much as he'd like to he cannot marry Devon. The book continues with the ups and downs of their relationship and Devon's involvement in different circles of New York society, dirty politics, emancipation for women, and more. Eventually Devon does obtain a job as a journalist reporting for the women's section of a local paper and she is able to take further that job as she is assigned as one of the many female reporters following the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant from the viewpoint of Mrs. Grant and the social whirl of Washington DC. Although the basic premise of the storyline sounds like your basic historical romance, and at times it did seem to take on a soap opera/TV mini series type of quality, I have to give the author credit for including a great deal of historical facts and characters. In addition to being entertained with a good story, I obtained a wonderful inside peek at the people and history of late 19C politics with it's dirty politicians, social scandals, railroad barons, the social mores of the day and more as Devon must ultimately decide between her love for Keith and their son or her independence to strike out on a new life that she can live without secrecy or fear of discovery and scandal. The ending definitely left an opening for more of Devon's story and I'd dearly like to know if she continued this in her other books. Four stars. **Edited -- Gallagher did continue Devon's story in two subsequent books. No Greater Love and On Wings Of Dreams.

A DREAM COME TRUE...

This is a well-written work of historical fiction. It opens on the heels of the end of the Civil War. The South is vanquished, while the North is reaping the benefits of being the victor. After all, it is to the victor to whom the spoils must go. The author tells the story of beautiful and headstrong young woman, Devon Marshall, a southern miss from Richmond, Virginia, whose father, a newspaper publisher, has just killed himself, leaving her orphaned. Wanting to be a journalist during a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to desire such an occupation, she knows that she must leave the pillaged South and head North to New York. Her passage North is made possible when she meets handsome and dashing Keith Curtis, a married multi-millionaire and financier from New York and, initially, becomes his reluctant mistress. Once in New York, however, and despite resistance to the idea by Keith, Devon slowly begins her quest to fulfill her dream of a career in journalism. Her dream eventually comes into conflict with her sweeping romance with Keith, who fails to understand her dream. As Devon begins to move among the power brokers of New York, from those in the financial district to those of Tammany Hall, where greed and corruption are the bywords of the day, she begins to make a name for herself among the journalistic glitterati. Finding herself enmeshed with the feminist vanguard of the day, she also finds herself straddling two worlds, that of her journalistic dream and that of her illicit, back door liaison with Keith. It is little wonder that she one day finds her worlds colliding. This is romantic historical fiction at its best, infused with actual, well-known personages of the day, historical events, and the social mores of nineteenth century America. It is rich in the profundities of human nature and gripping in its storytelling. It tells a tale about life among the rich and famous in nineteenth century New York and Washington, D.C. and of one woman's search to achieve the American dream.

LOVED THIS BOOK

This is a great book. the reviewer before me has explained the story line so I won't go into that but this book is worth reading, I bought all 3 of the books in this series and the story line was very good in all 3 of the books.

A DREAM COME TRUE...

This is a well-written work of historical fiction. It opens on the heels of the end of the Civil War. The South is vanquished, while the North is reaping the benefits of being the victor. After all, it is to the victor to whom the spoils must go. The author tells the story of beautiful and headstrong young woman, Devon Marshall, a southern miss from Richmond, Virginia, whose father, a newspaper publisher, has just killed himself, leaving her orphaned. Wanting to be a journalist during a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to desire such an occupation, she knows that she must leave the pillaged South and head North to New York. Her passage North is made possible when she meets handsome and dashing Keith Curtis, a married multi-millionaire and financier from New York and, initially, becomes his reluctant mistress. Once in New York, however, and despite resistance to the idea by Keith, Devon slowly begins her quest to fulfill her dream of a career in journalism. Her dream eventually comes into conflict with her sweeping romance with Keith, who fails to understand her dream. As Devon begins to move among the power brokers of New York, from those in the financial district to those of Tammany Hall, where greed and corruption are the bywords of the day, she begins to make a name for herself among the journalistic glitterati. Finding herself enmeshed with the feminist vanguard of the day, she also finds herself straddling two worlds, that of her journalistic dream and that of her illicit, back door liaison with Keith. It is little wonder that she one day finds her worlds colliding. This is romantic historical fiction at its best, infused with actual, well-known personages of the day, historical events, and the social mores of nineteenth century America. It is rich in the profundities of human nature and gripping in its storytelling. It tells a tale about life among the rich and famous in nineteenth century New York and Washington, D.C. and of one woman's search to achieve the American dream.

A DREAM COME TRUE...

This is a well-written work of historical fiction. It opens on the heels of the end of the Civil War. The South is vanquished, while the North is reaping the benefits of being the victor. After all, it is to the victor to whom the spoils must go. The author tells the story of beautiful and headstrong young woman, Devon Marshall, a southern miss from Richmond, Virginia, whose father, a newspaper publisher, has just killed himself, leaving her orphaned. Wanting to be a journalist during a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to desire such an occupation, she knows that she must leave the pillaged South and head North to New York.Her passage North is made possible when she meets handsome and dashing Keith Curtis, a married multi-millionaire and financier from New York and, initially, becomes his reluctant mistress. Once in New York, however, and despite resistance to the idea by Keith, Devon slowly begins her quest to fulfill her dream of a career in journalism. Her dream eventually comes into conflict with her sweeping romance with Keith, who fails to understand her dream. As Devon begins to move among the power brokers of New York, from those in the financial district to those of Tammany Hall, where greed and corruption are the bywords of the day, she begins to make a name for herself among the journalistic glitterati. Finding herself enmeshed with the feminist vanguard of the day, she also finds herself straddling two worlds, that of her journalistic dream and that of her illicit, back door liaison with Keith. It is little wonder that she one day finds her worlds colliding.This is romantic historical fiction at its best, infused with actual, well-known personages of the day, historical events, and the social mores of nineteenth century America. It is rich in the profundities of human nature and gripping in its storytelling. It tells a tale about life among the rich and famous in nineteenth century New York and Washington, D.C. and of one woman's search to achieve the American dream.