Based on the true story of Emily Roeblin, The Engineer’s wife tells the story of a woman who doesn’t think traditionally - she pushes for what she wants and believes in. This book is well-written and obviously well-researched, almost too many painstaking details that detracted slightly from the flow. I wanted to love this a little more than I did but it was solid historical fiction read! Thanks to netgalley and Lume books for the advanced reader’s copy.

A fascinating look at the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, well-written, unique historical period.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book.

compelling, historical fiction and great wording and structure it was quite a interesting read, 3 stars- recommend, got bit ocnfusing at times but worth the read

Tracey Enerson Wood tells the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge as historical fiction. At it's center is the bridge builder/designer's wife, who is the narrator. I was fine with the premise of the book, but I needed a little more historical accuracy. The writing is good, and the story interesting. I wanted to stick with the main story and found the sections dealing with P T Barnum to be unnecessary and a distraction. I often find myself reaching out to google for the "rest of the story," and when I did so during this read, I was disappointed by the results. I have learned a lesson about my reading preferences.
3.0
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

I had high hopes for this book, but I decided to stop reading at 30%. The writing seemed very simplistic and I would have liked it to dig much deeper. It covered a huge amount of time very quickly and a lot of seemingly important events were very rushed. I know so little about the main characters that I can't even care about them. I'm interested in this storyline, but just can't handle how this was presented.

Historical fiction has become one of my favorite reading genres because of stories like this one of Emily Roebling who was the woman who built the Brooklyn Bridge. How she came upon a project of magnitude like this through her injured husband’s predicament was interesting, considering she had other plans in mind. She overcame many challenges along the way, mostly because she was a woman working in a man’s environment.

I love reading stories about women achieving such extraordinary things during time periods where expectations of women were quite the opposite.

I found the writing easy to follow however found myself wondering about the true history of some of the relationships presented in the story.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

Rating: 4 stars

I got the The Engineers Wife by Tracy Enerson Wood from Netgalley for a fair on honest review.

The Engineers Wife tells the story of the building if the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, after the Civil War, by Captain Washington Roebling. However at a time when woman could not vote in The US, when her husband falls ill during the building of the bridge his wife Emily, takes more and more responsibility of the building of the bridge.


I really enjoyed reading the novel, as it was very easy and enjoyable to read, with each individual in the book being easily, recognized, although the story was told through the voice of Emily.

With Emily being the main person in the book, her story line, had to stand up to the scrutiney, during the length of the book. Which the writer Tracy Emerson wood, did really well in doing, taling her story from a young woman, who was shy when talking to people to someone who was able to help in the building of major engineering project.

Another thing the book did well was the time line, when a book covers a large period of time, it can get confusing for the reader, however in this book the chapter headings, were years were the events take place.

This was a very enjoyable book to read that took an historical story and made a really interesting, story, which to me is what historical fiction is meant to do, in addition to this the author, at the end of the book told you the reader where she changed the story to make it more interesting.


I would recommenced this book this book for any one who likes historical fiction set in a time period other than World War II, Europe, or if you want to sea what it was like for a woman in America shortly after The Civil War. Then I would recommenced Tracy Enerson Wood’s latest book, The Engineers Wife.

The engineer's Wife is a captivating story about the obstacles for a woman at the end of the 19th century to lead a fulfilling life. We all have heard about the suffragettes, and the hard life, but this book contributes to fully seize the dimensions of all the obstacles. The story unfolds with great coherence. the main character, Emily, is depicted with such clarity that sometimes you feel like reading the story from her own words. I truly appreciated the care of the author to explain what is fiction and what is history at the end of the book.
I will recommend this book to would be engineers and ladies !
I received a copy from NEt Galley, all opinions are mine.

An excellent historical fiction that entertained and made me learn new things.
The historical background is vivid and well researched, the characters are fleshed out and interesting, the plot flows and keeps you hooked.
It was an excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

When free-spirited Emily Warren meets Captain Washington 'Wash' Roebling, it seems it is love at first sight. After a whirlwind courtship in the middle of the Civil War, Emily is ready for happiness when her new husband returns to her. However, he and his father are consumed with the family business: building bridges. She must resign herself to a life wrapped around the Brooklyn Bridge, and her involvement becomes more than anyone could have imagined.

When I saw this was based on a real person, I was intrigued to learn what her life could have been like. However, in reality, I found this to be an uninteresting interpretation of Emily Roebling’s life. She, and the majority of the cast, are very flat and none of them felt real. Her constant criticisms of Victorian fashion -crinolines are itchy, corsets are awful-felt more like a stereotype and were very annoying. The time period never leapt off the page and took shape in my mind.

The Bridge Building itself could have been fascinating, but it wobbles between being overly detailed and having things glossed over quickly. The added drama of Emily having an emotional affair with P. T. Barnum was unnecessary. And when I checked if this was true and learned it was a fabrication, I found myself questioning everything. Many dramatic and life-threatening occurrences in the story ARE such fabrications.

Overall, I did not enjoy it and I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone else to read either.

Tracy Enerson Wood offers us a rare look into the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in The Engineer’s Wife. The historical accuracy is unparalleled.

Initially taken with the novel, I grew away from the story as the book went on. Emily and Wash’s meeting and courtship were fantastic and drew me in right away. Their personalities complemented each other well.

Unfortunately, after the war was over and they began their life in earnest, the book drifted from the interesting back and forth banter into something dull and dry.

As the bridge-building took over the story, all manner of worldbuilding ended. The novel becomes a guidebook of building a bridge instead of a well-rounded book full of rich words and drama.

Emily’s relationship with PT Barnum never had the dramatic effect that I feel the author planned. Wash’s complacency with the relationship further revulsed me.

It is with a heavy heart that I award The Engineer’s Wife 2 stars out of 5. There was so much promise, but in the end, this novel didn’t work for me.

When you go back into history to read the stories they almost always focus on the men, so how refreshing to find a story where a woman can take center stage and who did and with her taking the lead something big happened - a bridge! Did you ever wonder how the Brooklyn Bridge came to be? Did you think that it was ahead of its time and an engineering feat of its time?!

I guess I had never really thought about bridges in general and never the hows behind the Brooklyn Bridge and how it came to be. Emily Warren Roebling married and dropped everything to follow her husband as he pursued the family business and his dream - building bridges. Watching her husband and her father-in-law, build a bridge or two, Emily learned a lot of things and when her husband needed her to take the lead she did and she not only innovated, but fought the authority along the way.

I love historical fiction. This book is the perfect example. I love a close look at something that you never questioned and with that close look you learn so much and you learn about the people who were there at a crucial time.

After finishing reading the book and going to deep dive into the author, I was excited (and sad) to see that this was her fiction debut because she hit it out of the park, but there is no backlist to dive into! I will not so patiently wait until her next book arrives!

The story is not well developed in my opinion. It has such great potential as a story but I felt it fell flat. I was intrigued to see where it would go but did not enjoy it. I found the romance with P.R unnecessary. Hope to read another book by the author in the future. Best of luck.

This book tells the story of Emily Roebling, wife to Washington "Wash" Roebling, who was the engineer who designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge. When he fell ill, Emily stepped up and filled in for him. She was also instrumental in the suffragette movement.
Parts of this book were really interesting, but other parts read more like a romance novel between Mrs. Roebling and PT Barnum. I would have preferred to have had much more of the first and a lot less of the second. Overall, it was an informative book about a part of history that I was not that knowledgeable about before now.

The Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood 3.8 stars

This is my first book from this author. I like reading historical fiction and the premise sounds really good. I searched about the Roebling family on the internet and learned a good bit about them. So I was so excited to read this one. Emily Warren, wife of chief engineer Washington Roebling is a dedicated sister, daughter, wife and later on a mother. She is a sweet and supportive woman. Their marriage starts out really good. She goes wherever her husband’s work takes him.

She likes to be helpful and this trait comes in handy when Wash gets sick. It’s a good thing that she has some interest in building bridges too even if women are not allowed to work in a man’s world. Building a bridge now is hard but so much more in the 1800s. Despite all the challenges and sacrifices they face as a family and at work site, Emily stays strong. She is not perfect but I like her determination, hard work and her good thinking. Though that good thinking is wasted during her weak moments.

I like this book in general. It’s neat to weave a story around history. You will definitely read a lot of details in building a bridge, with all the bountiful issues and it’s triumphs. I’d love to see the quilt that Emily received from her family. Emily gains the respect from the workers. She deserves the big applause for her tremendous work to complete the Brooklyn bridge.

Warning: I didn’t like and expected some sexual content. Short and not overly detailed ones. I know they are married but somehow I just didn’t think it needs to be included. There are some kissing and some vulgar language.

Thank you #netgalley and #Lume Books for the free copy.

#Historical Fiction #Women's Fiction

Whenever I read fiction based on a true story I go in skeptical. Does the story feel too perfect? Is our lead character too strong or too unbelievable? And while there are people in the world that are incredible human beings; the reality is that most of us are just average and incapable of most feats in our favourite novels. In The Engineer's Wife it's 1865; and so women are arm candy, the suffragette cause is protesting forward, and white men believe themselves to be the best of the best. Our lead character is the wife of the primary engineer whose tasked to build the Brooklyn Bridge. While the story is fascinating, deadly, and awe-inspiring at times in the end I can't quite give it five stars because of the romantic entanglement story (completely fictional). I will credit Tracey Enerson Wood however with being very honest in the afterword about what is true and what is not in this historical fiction novel.

Romance
I'm not a sucker for romances to start with; so anytime you want to try and justify why people should just fall into one another's arms instantly, or be compelled to cheat on their spouses because 'OMG the other person is just so amazing' (gag), it's going to be a hard sell. Yes I have a long-time spouse. It's a man (although be a woman) whom I've been with for 12+ years. We are not formally married (but call one another husband and wife). Neither of us is overly romantic or into the big gestures. Due to my health situation we don't have a ton of sex; nor do we take part in any overly romantic events or affairs. Why? Because that is not what the core of a relationship should be in my opinion. So when you give me a romantic story line that is seemingly 100% focused on the idea of 'good sex' and on grand moments of passion I will always remain unconvinced.
This is the problem with the developing relationship between our engineer's wife and P.T. Barnum (yes the circus man). The reality is it doesn't work because (most importantly) it probably didn't happen. This is man who made circuses famous, widely supported the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery, and whom months after his wife of many years died married a woman 40-years younger than him. Barnum was a man of action, excitement, thrills, and didn't wait around for things to happen, he made them happen.
Thus the romantic side story and ridiculous insertion of Barnum is the entire reason this is not a 5-star book for me. While Barnum had some connection to the bridge construction; it's as though Wood thought no one would care to read the story without a famous historical figure to tote in the back blurb. I'd have much rather Barnum had a couple cameo's here or there like history tells it than have him smooching the engineer's wife time and time again.

Caisson Disease, the Bends, Depression Sickness
No matter what you call it, depressurization's affect on our bodies is intense. Those darn air bubbles wreak havoc on our ability to breathe, thus affecting the amount of oxygen our brains are getting and from there can ruin just about every aspect of how your body functions. I had no idea prior to reading The Engineer's Wife how prevalent caisson's disease was for construction workers, or the exact physics and math behind building giant bridges that was used in the late 1800's. It's impressive to me that humans were able to fathom these structures and then ultimately build them. However, they came at a price. Many lives were lost during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and many others were destroyed from caisson's disease; including that of our primary engineer. There is a lot more death and sickness in this story than you might expect.
Caisson's disease is how a woman *gasp* ends up working directly on the Brooklyn Bridge plans and construction. If you want to be outraged by the way women were treated back then this is a great book to show it. With many references and lines like:
"Calculus. Trigonometry. Engineering. All subjects deemed unsuitable for women."

The Science and Math
I love how Wood gives enough details on engineering the bridge to whet my appetite; without going into vast amounts of detail. I understand tensile strength of steel cords, caisson building, weight allocation, and other engineering concepts better than before I read The Engineer's Wife. Yet, I never felt like the science and math were too belaboured. It is a real feat to balance a woman's suffragette story with a task as huge as building the Brooklyn Bridge. Not only does Wood do a good job in authoring this story but our leading lady does all the hard work fighting back every step of the way.
Everyone around her is gossiping, making fun, questioning her abilities, and/or deciding what political causes she can associate with because of her involvement in the construction. It makes me feel like my stories of being over looked, sexualized, or underestimated because I'm a woman are nothing next to hers. I can't decide if she would be pleased by how far we've come; or disappointed in the ~75% wage differential, number of female CEO's, that we still divide 'women's work' up in today's world.
”I set back my shoulders. To be successful in a man’s world, I would be strong.”

Overall
I did really, really enjoy this book. It's a fascinating time in New York as huge high-rises are being raised, bridges are reaching across water, and women are fighting for their rights. Wood does a great job of keeping the pace of the novel up, even if it does mean that some events are skewed (especially near the end of the story). I could forgive all of them if not for the ridiculous Barnum romance aside. Luckily the romance is not the crux of the story and each time it came up I could look forward to the next visit to the bridge site our leading lady would make or moment when she conferred with her debilitated husband over the building plans.
If you have ever had any interest in this time period, bridge building or the history of New York City I would highly recommend you read this book. Wood did a great amount of homework to put this story together for us and I"m so glad to have learned about Emily Warren Roebling and her immense contribution to the New York City skyline; and proof that women are just as smart and capable as men. I hope that I can continue my career and life in a male dominated industry (software development at this moment) with even half the dignity and courage that she had.
"Let them talk. Gossip has always been spread and there is nothing to do but to live ones life as best one can."

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I can't imagine a world where women aren't allowed to pursue whatever study they desire.

The Brooklyn Bridge is held up as a major achievement in civil engineering history. Despite the fact that I do not live in the US as a Civil Engineering student the building of such massive structures has always fascinated me, I was somewhat familiar with the story of the bridge having watched documentaries of the story. These however generally focus on the bridge its self and less on the family whose lives it consumed.

I enjoyed most of this book, Emily is an intriguing character who pushed most of the boundaries for women at the time, both in her work on the bridge and her contribution to the suffragette movement. The relationships that she had with both her husband Washington 'Wash' Roebling, her mother brother and father in law were all very well done and seemingly realistic under the circumstances.

I would have liked more about the building of the bridge itself, especially the engineering of it, however I this is probably due to this being my area of interest, there is enough to satisfy most readers, some would probably say to much. I also would have preferred it without the fictionalised relationship with P.T. Barnum. however as this is historical fiction, so not everything has to be supported by evidence or even entirely true.

I enjoyed getting to hear more about a woman who was so influential on such a massive piece of civil engineering and getting an insite into the lives of those who worked on such massive construction it the 1800s.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for supplying this book in exchange for a review.

I grew up in Brooklyn - nowhere near the Brooklyn Bridge (closer to the Verrazano in South BK) but some of my fondest memories involve walking across this bridge or seeing a glimpse of it while crossing from street to street. That’s why I was thrilled to get this @netgalley copy of THE ENGINEER’S WIFE by Tracey Enerson Wood.

Did you know a woman was key to making sure the Brooklyn Bridge could be completed? Emily Warren Roebling took up the project after her husband, Washington Roebling, became ill with “caisson disease”, now known as decompression sickness, partway through construction. How cool is that?

Enerson dives into Emily’s story, and you can tell there was depth and dedication to her research. It was fascinating to read about how the Bridge project came about, and I truly bought into the love behind Wash and Emily’s relationship. I even loved the engineering elements - I don’t think I fully comprehended quite how groundbreaking a feat this Bridge truly was at the time.

But there were a few issues for me. Enerson takes a lot of historical liberties - chief among them the appearance of P.T. Barnum - yes, that one - as a key part of the story and of Emily’s life and career. I was really challenged by that element of the storytelling and wasn’t fully bought in even when I turned the last page.

Well-written, fascinating, and an interesting glimpse into a woman who doesn’t get enough acclaim for her accomplishments, THE ENGINEER’S WIFE falls short when it comes to plot and a convincing historical re-imagining. If you enjoyed The Greatest Showman (I have to admit...I did not) you may really enjoy this one. But unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment for me.

💫 💫

Have you read this one? What’d you think?

I recently read 'The Engineer's Wife' by Tracey Emerson Wood. This is a novel by a budding author. To view my detailed review with an interesting backstory, visit: https://thebookbuff.com/the-engineers-wife-book-review/

My verdict:
If you would like to read a romance novel set in the 1800s, and in the backdrop of suspension bridge engineering, take a chance with this one. It is an amusing account of a strong yet flawed heroine who spends 11 years chasing and fulfilling her husband’s dream.

If, however, you want to use this book to understand the history of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge (USA) and the unique Roebling family who built it – skip ahead! This is more women’s fiction than historical fiction.

Also Instagram ID where reviews are also promoted: @therealbookbuff

The Engineer's Wife is a historical fiction novel based on the true story of Emily Watson Roebling, who finds herself tasked with overseeing the construction and completion of Brooklyn Bridge. I knew nothing about Emily nor her contribution to American Architecture before reading this book, but that did not stop me from enjoying it. The Engineer’s Wife is written in a beautiful way that perfectly blends the historical facts of the character’s life with moments of heightened, suspenseful drama. Emily is also a strong heroine and portrayed in such a way that allows the reader to feel really connected to her.

What I most enjoyed about this book was the author’s commentary on women’s rights. You get a sense that Emily is torn between several identities: wife, mother, suffragette and commander of a huge-scale engineering project. It left me feeling that this book is about more than just Brooklyn Bridge. It’s a story of female perseverance, defiance, and triumph.

I would highly recommend this book. It’s written and researched well. But be aware that not everything in the book is historically accurate. I appreciate the author acknowledging this at the end.