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Hearts Upon a Fragile Bough by Vera Jane Cook Global Authors Publishers
book review by Nancy Livingstone
"Pleasing men is an art that can be cultivated and learned... listen to everything they say, or pretend to."
Cook's latest novel focuses on the feminine side of a sprawling family saga. There are fine-tuned shades of Charles Dickens, with the all the suffering the protagonists are put through. The story begins in 1912 as young Irish nun, Hannah Reilly, is sent to an American convent. After some wrestling, she leaves the nunnery to marry a man named Wade. Hannah goes on to bear several children with her husband, who turns out to be a mean alcoholic. Because of Wade's drinking and philandering, she considers doing something that goes against her strict Catholic upbringing: terminating her pregnancy. Next, the novel moves to Hannah's daughter, Vita, who becomes an enterprising prostitute, marries, and has a daughter named Fanny. Soon Vita goes back to hooking, and the story follows the next generations of women.
Crisscrossing the country from Florida to California to New York, Hearts Upon a Fragile Bough centers on daughters and mothers and the choices they make. The consequences of those decisions make this an insightful and life-affirming read for women of all ages. New York-based author Vera Jane Cook was recipient of the Eric Hoffer Award in 2007 and finalist in the Hollywood Book Festival for fiction.