RaveThe Manhattan Book ReviewRothschild does a wonderful job weaving the ornate past of Trelawney into the complicated now. The eccentric family members interact with the space on their own unique terms, and every Trelawney player gets their moment in the story. The overall affect is a charmingly discordant family coping with their resplendent past and wholly muddled future. Rothschild effectively weaves an engaging tale of redemption and family bonds that comes off as both utterly untranslatable, but emotionally connective to the reader at the same time. It is a delightful escape and will leave you mentally roaming the halls of the house of Trelawney long after the last page has turned.
E. J. Koh
RaveThe Seattle Book ReviewKoh takes her readers on a wonderfully written, if sobering, journey through the history of the women of her family and her own journey to being the author of this memoir ... Each story is a patchwork of isolated devotion, and over time Koh sews them delicately together to create a quilted spread of familial feminine pain. But Koh does not pity herself or her family. In fact, she is economical enough with her prose to waste little time reflecting on the grand scheme of raw deals the women of her family have faced, but rather reckons these events in an empathetic but ultimately detached tone. Koh’s writing does not err on the side of the histrionic, and therein lies her genius; she leaves space for the reader to feel all those feelings on her behalf. The effect is a quiet and brief memoir that immediately pulls you in and leaves your heart wrenched by imagined grief and love.
Donna Rifkind
RaveSeattle Book Review... an engaging glimpse into a fascinating woman’s life, it is also an important reference for anyone trying to learn more about history outside of the usual white male hero tale ... Rifkind does a wonderful job of telling the multifaceted and somewhat tragic life story of a brilliant woman.