Cassie Lyman is sifting through the archives looking for a topic for her doctoral dissertation when she comes across the Kate Easton collection. Kate Easton is a relative of hers and Cassie finds intriguing artwork centered around women's suffrage that Kate illustrated. Before Cassie can dig much deeper, she is pulled to her sister, Penny's shotgun wedding at her Grandmother's cottage. Cassie is quickly put to work by her mother who has organized every last detail. In her precious spare time, Cassie begins to ask her relatives about her Aunt Kate and reads the diary entries that she copied. Cassie learns that her Aunt was an important force within the women's suffrage movement and that their experiences in life may not be that different.
Lemons in the Garden of Love explores the real life relative of the author, Blanche Ames Ames through the fictionalized Kate Easton. Kate, like many others, was an unsung hero in the women's suffrage movement. Kate used her talent to draw political cartoons that called attention to the women's need to vote as well as how women were being treated in the early 1900's. Though Kate and Cassie lived 70 years apart, their issues closely mirrored one another. I enjoyed reading through Kate's diary entries while Cassie began to see the parallels in her marriage and how her family wanted her to behave; however, Cassie had more options as well as safer options to consider. One of the most entertaining parts of the story were the many characters in Cassie's family, her grandmother, mother sister, Aunt Charlotte and her husband were all unique as well as products of their time. Their opinions and actions clearly showcased the conditions of how they were raised with certain privileges and biases that they held. One of my only complaints was that the speech seemed unnatural at times, however, this is a shorter story, so it wasn't anything I couldn't get over.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Lemons in the Garden of Love explores the real life relative of the author, Blanche Ames Ames through the fictionalized Kate Easton. Kate, like many others, was an unsung hero in the women's suffrage movement. Kate used her talent to draw political cartoons that called attention to the women's need to vote as well as how women were being treated in the early 1900's. Though Kate and Cassie lived 70 years apart, their issues closely mirrored one another. I enjoyed reading through Kate's diary entries while Cassie began to see the parallels in her marriage and how her family wanted her to behave; however, Cassie had more options as well as safer options to consider. One of the most entertaining parts of the story were the many characters in Cassie's family, her grandmother, mother sister, Aunt Charlotte and her husband were all unique as well as products of their time. Their opinions and actions clearly showcased the conditions of how they were raised with certain privileges and biases that they held. One of my only complaints was that the speech seemed unnatural at times, however, this is a shorter story, so it wasn't anything I couldn't get over.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
