Theresa Marshall is a woman of a certain age who appears to live a comfortable life in her Fifth Avenue home during the Jazz Age. However, she is in a loveless marriage with her much older husband and has not gotten over the death of one of her sons during the Great War. Things change for Theresa when she meets Octavian, a young pilot and hero during the war. Theresa and Octavian begin a love affair and Octavian becomes intensely involved with Theresa. When Theresa's brother Jay becomes engaged to a young Sophie Fortesque, he needs a cavalier to deliver the engagement ring according to family tradition. Theresa offers up Octavian for the job. Octavian and Sophie meet and they know there is something more there. When Octavian is asked by Theresa to look into the new money of the Fortesque family, he finds a secret that not even Sophie knows about. Decisions will be made by Theresa, Octavian, Sophie and Jay that require courage , conviction and love.
Another fabulous look into the lives of those who lived in New York's Jazz Age. If you have read other Beatriz Williams books, you will reconnect with some characters and haunts around the city. A Certain Age, however, focuses on the love triangle of Theresa, Octavian and Sophie. This is not a typical love triangle though, I truly cared about all of these characters and their well being. There also was no obvious answer to their conundrum, and yet, everyone somehow made the best and most difficult decisions in the end. I felt connected to Theresa and the twists and turns that her life made. She was one of the products of the age, married young into a loveless marriage, Theresa enjoys her upper class lifestyle, but would happily give it up to be with Octavian. Octavian is a different product of the age, a war hero who returned to life and felt lost. Sophie is yet another product of the Jazz age, a young woman who has lived under her father's rules and yearns to be independent and make her own decisions. These well developed characters combined with the mystery of the Fortesque family created and exciting and intriguing look into the lives of those during New York's Jazz Age.
Another fabulous look into the lives of those who lived in New York's Jazz Age. If you have read other Beatriz Williams books, you will reconnect with some characters and haunts around the city. A Certain Age, however, focuses on the love triangle of Theresa, Octavian and Sophie. This is not a typical love triangle though, I truly cared about all of these characters and their well being. There also was no obvious answer to their conundrum, and yet, everyone somehow made the best and most difficult decisions in the end. I felt connected to Theresa and the twists and turns that her life made. She was one of the products of the age, married young into a loveless marriage, Theresa enjoys her upper class lifestyle, but would happily give it up to be with Octavian. Octavian is a different product of the age, a war hero who returned to life and felt lost. Sophie is yet another product of the Jazz age, a young woman who has lived under her father's rules and yearns to be independent and make her own decisions. These well developed characters combined with the mystery of the Fortesque family created and exciting and intriguing look into the lives of those during New York's Jazz Age.
