by Jamie Ford
"You deserve that more than anyone," she whispered as she hugged him again, clinging to him, and then letting him go. "I'm sorry, that's all I have to give."
A first kiss means everything.
This book was a joy to me in so many ways. The story centers around three children in Seattle in the early 1900's. Being from Seattle I loved this historical view of the city. Not to take away from the book, but I often found myself stopping to google something to determine if it was true or fictional. Delightfully, I found everything I looked up to be true and enjoyed my new knowledge of my home town.
The story starts in China where Yung Kun-ai, who is a mix of Chinese and Caucasian, is sent off to America by his ill and destitute mother for a 'better life.' He endures a horrific journey and eventually ends up in Seattle and becomes known as Ernest Young. Although a benefactor sends him to a private school he is painfully aware that he is a second class citizen. Wanting out of the situation, he becomes a 'prize' to be raffled off at the worlds fair.
Wait! The Seattle Worlds Fair opened in 1962. This is no longer historically accurate -
or so I thought.
History lesson: The Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition was a World's Fair that took place in the summer of 1909 on the grounds of the University of Washington in Seattle. My husband knew this (seriously?) but it blew me away. One of the attractions of this fair was the early invention of incubators that traveled from fair to fair and cradled living premature babies. I have previously read about that, and as awful as it sounds, it lead to the current science that helps us keep prematurely born infants alive. Another attraction of this fair is that they were raffling off a month old orphaned baby.
True.
This is where Jamie Ford's inspiration for his story came from.
12 year old Ernest is raffled off, 'won' by Madam Flora who runs The Tenderloin, a house for gentlemen's entertainment. Although he becomes one of their servants, for the first time in his life he is well cared for. Here he meets the slight older Fahn and Maisie who become his fast friends. A gentle and tender love story develops in this unlikely setting of the salon.
The telling of the story is entirely through Ernest's eyes as we flash back and forth from his life and family at the time of the 1962 Worlds Fair to the 1909 AYP as he falls in love with both girls and what becomes of all of them.
Jamie Ford also wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which I must now read. I give Love and Other Consolation Prizes four shots of five. But even as I write this I consider adding that fifth shot....
