A Wild and Heavenly Place

September 1, 2023

Raising a younger sister in a late 1800s Glasgow tenement, Samuel Fiddes befriends wealthy Hailey MacIntyre after rescuing her brother from a runaway carriage, then follows her to nascent Seattle--reputedly A Wild and Heavenly Place--when she moves there following her family's bankruptcy; from Oliveira, author of the New York Times best-selling My Name Is Mary Sutter. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 6, 2023
Oliveira (My Name Is Mary Sutter) sets this middling melodrama of lovelorn Scots against the backdrop of Seattle’s rapid rise in the 1880s. It’s love at first sight when apprentice shipbuilder Samuel Fiddes and well-to-do Hailey MacIntyre lock eyes on a Glasgow street in 1879. Unfortunately, Hailey’s stern parents disapprove of impoverished Samuel, forcing the two would-be lovers to see each other in secret. When Hailey’s father loses his fortune, he upends his family and moves to Seattle, where he has a new job prospect. Samuel refuses to give up on Hailey and works passage on a ship bound for America. Arriving in Seattle, he finally tracks her down, but he’s too late. Her family’s fortunes have taken another downturn, forcing Hailey into a loveless marriage with a local laborer, who treats her cruelly. As the years pass and Samuel tries to figure out a way to win back Hailey from her abusive husband, the city grows around them. This has the sweep of an old-fashioned romantic epic, but Oliveira’s narrative is undone by too many coincidences, predictable plot twists, and outlandish villains. These ardent young lovers deserve a better story. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary.

December 15, 2023
When, on instinct, Samuel Fiddes performs a heroic act, he sets in motion a passionate and tragic romance that will take him halfway around the world. Glasgow in the late 1870s is a study in contrasts. There are wealthy families, like the MacIntyres, who employ dozens of servants to see to their comfort, and there are orphans like Samuel and his sister, Alison, who grew up in a Catholic orphanage until the nuns' abuse got to be too much, and they ran away. When Samuel saves little Geordie MacIntyre from a runaway carriage, he and his sister are invited for dinner at the MacIntyres' home, where he beholds Hailey, whom he has admired from afar at church. They begin a tentative romance, only to be ripped apart when the MacIntyres lose everything in a bank collapse and decide to emigrate to America--Washington Territory, to be exact--for the available mining work. Terrible journeys ensue, and hardship, and bitterness. Hailey marries a local miner to save her family from ruin just before Samuel arrives to find her, and the novel follows the next several years as they try to deny their passion, as Samuel becomes a successful shipbuilder, and as Hailey carries the burdens of a broken family. While Oliveira may not break genre conventions in any meaningful way, she writes with such conviction and sensory detail that one cannot help but be transported into the world of these characters, both primary and secondary, the roughness of the place, and its wild beauty. Overall, this novel is as easy to slip into as a favorite sweater; even the potentially unfamiliar setting is gorgeously rendered and always a surprise. The history of Seattle seems lesser known than many other cities of the era, and it adds a lovely note to the star-crossed love story. Predictable in almost every way--but, surprisingly, no less enjoyable for it.

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January 1, 2024
With her aptly titled new novel, Oliveira (Winter Sisters, 2018) sweeps romantically inclined readers into the spectacular setting of the Washington Territory during the 1870s and 1880s, when Seattle was a muddy frontier outpost primed for growth and industrial development. Centering this epic tale is the enduring relationship between Hailey MacIntyre, a prosperous Scottish coal engineer's daughter, and Samuel Fiddes, an aspiring shipbuilder determined to lift himself and his young sister from poverty. After Samuel saves Hailey's brother from an accident in Glasgow, the two fall in love despite her parents' disapproval. When the MacIntyres lose everything in a bank failure, Hailey's father relocates his reluctant, traumatized family to the Pacific Northwest, where they must adjust to severely reduced circumstances. Samuel follows soon afterward, hoping to find Hailey again. The characters aren't quite as nuanced as those of Oliveira's previous historical novels, but their stories are magnetic as they undergo complex personal transformations. This unique American immigration tale has a large, multiethnic cast, and the exceptionally well-evoked backdrop makes it perfect for armchair travelers seeking an absorbing emotional escape.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 26, 2024

When the City of Glasgow Bank fails in 1879, the newly penniless MacIntyre family must voyage around the world to Washington Territory for a new start at a coal mine near Seattle. Hailey MacIntyre is distraught but determined to care for her younger brother Geordie, even as she grieves her sudden parting from the bonny Samuel Fiddes. After a devastating mine explosion, Hailey makes a hasty decision to accept James Murray's calculated offer of marriage. Unbeknownst to her, her beloved Samuel is only miles away, having sailed to the United States in search of her. Hailey and Samuel's tormented love story takes readers through the boardinghouses, shanty towns, opium houses, and shipyards of a nascent Seattle. Hailey and Samuel are no Claire and Jamie, but readers will root for them regardless and revel in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest all the while. VERDICT While the plot doesn't offer surprises, Oliveira's (The Winter Sisters) latest novel provides an interesting glimpse into the lives of Scottish settlers in Seattle and Washington Territory in the 1880s.--Christine Perkins

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