Incredible historical fiction from a time period other than WWII which is hammered in so tightly compared to so many other incredible pieces of history that also should be focused on. I absolutely enjoyed this book and all that was told. Masterfully told.

Brilliantly immersive historical fiction. I’m not sure I’ve enjoyed a historical fiction novel so much since Follett.
Through the protagonist Theo Starling you viscerally feel all the contradictions and paradoxes of 19th century politics. My first experience of this author but definitely not my last.
Thank you NetGalley for the eArc

This novel follows Theo Sterling through his adolescence. His journey starts in New York when he gets taken by his paternal grandfather and learns that he is part Jewish. His father comes to get him when he realizes where he is. Theo is a very intelligent boy who doesn't feel close to his father, who runs his own business, nor does he feel support from his mother, who is a Mexican refugee. Theo is forced to leave school at the young age of 14 to join his father in running his business during the Great Depression. From then on, Theo is challenged throughout his journey in life as he moves to England and becomes friends with a Communist student at his boarding school.

I find this novel at times to be incredibly boring. I love historical fiction, but for the first novel in the series, I felt like too much was going on at times while also giving nothing exciting or impactful. Theo is going through life learning to determine who he is and what type of person he is going to be, but he just came across as wishy-washy and sort of limp as a character at certain times in the book. I kept forgetting this is going to be a series of books, so I am keeping an open mind and I'm still interested to see where this series goes in regards to development in story line and character development. I did not like the ending however, it just felt like it was cut off short, but once again had to remind myself this is the first book, so maybe that was on purpose.