- Paperback
- Publisher: Endeavour Quill (16 Jan. 2020)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1911445774
- ISBN-13: 978-1911445777
Synopsis
The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground.
The invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City socialites and her snobbish, controlling family.
But soon it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy the freedom she has been yearning for, and it’s not long before she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist of humble means, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of.
Disapprove they may, but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit, betrayal, and deadly secrets. And as bodies begin to mount up amidst the sweltering clamor of Coney Island, it seems the powerful Batternbergs can get away with anything… even murder.
Review
It’s always good to start the year with a brilliant book and Dreamland was a fabulous start to 2020. Set in New York 1911, the Battenberg family are one of the richest in America, with the Vanderbilts and Rockerfellas, so want for nothing. Peggy wants to do something with her life, not be the archetypal rich girl, who waits to be married to the son of another rich family and provide heirs. Peggy, against her families wishes takes a job at the Moonrise Bookstore, and lives with her ex teacher. This perfect idyll is disrupted when she is summoned by the family and told she has to go on the family summer vacation for the sake of her sister Lydia, who is engaged to the rich Henry Taul. A summer with her family is not Peggy’s idea of fun, but her time at Coney Island proves to be enlightening, as she gets to know more about her family and scandal, lies, secrets are revealed, and the bodies of young women are found on the beach. Just how much are the Battenbergs prepared to hide.
I absolutely loved this book, it has many layers to it with the various family members, the schemes and lies and the suspense that builds around the murders. Peggy is very much the black sheep of the family in her progressive attitude, her wanting to work at a bookshop, live away from the family and have her own life, not just being a rich girl. It is only for her sister, Lydia’s sake, that she goes to Coney Island, summoned to the Oriental Hotel by Lydia’s fiancé’s mother. But Coney Island opens her eyes further to how others live. Drawn to Dreamland, one of the amusement parks she meets artist Stefan, who she falls in love with. This holiday gives her more freedom than she could ever imagine as she mixes with people her family would scorn; artists, dancers, the inhabitants of Lilliput, food vendors. These people have a lot more freedom than Peggy, who may have her own life, but in reality she is still contained in a guided cage of money and status.
Dreamland and the rest of Coney Island is a pleasure dome, hedonistic and full of life. It makes such an interesting juxtaposition with the expensive, elite hotels further up Coney Island. The Hotel’s are near enough to see the amusements, and walk to them, but kept separate by the police officers who seek identification of those going towards the hotel. There is also the juxtaposition of the rich and the working class, with the reality of the working class having more freedom and fun than the elite. Nancy Bilyeau captures the atmosphere, the sounds, smells and noise of the park, the mix of people and the contrasting life in the hotel, and the family problems simmering in the heat. Suspense and thrills around the murders add a separate dynamic to the story, as does Peggy’s strained relationships with Lydia’s fiancé Henry Taul, and her cousin Ben; neither seem trustworthy, they have an aura of menace about them.
Nancy Bilyeau’s Dreamland is a technicolour look at life in 1911 New York and Coney Island. The writing is evocative and immersive, in this story of corruption, scandal, affairs, lies, violence and class. Peggy is an inspiring and modern heroine, who stands up for what she believes in, even if it means going against her family. This is an intoxicating read, with plenty of suspense and a sense of underlying tension, that sizzles like the heatwave of the summer. A stunning first read of 2020!!
Thank you to Endeavour Quill for the advanced copy to read in return for an honest review.
