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A review by 100pagesaday
Savage Girl by Jean Zimmerman
5.0
"...beauty and terror often bump up against each other."
From Manhattan's Gilded Age society Hugo Delegate finds himself confronted with a murder. Left alone in the room with the body of his dead friend, Hugo surmises that it is possible that he committed the crime and has no recollection, he also knows that it is possible that his family's ward and the girl he loves has committed the murder. Hugo recounts his entire story of the murders and the Savage Girl as he sits in the Tombs with his lawyers, desperately trying to convince them that it was he who murdered this man - and others- and not his beloved Savage Girl.
While on a trip to Virginia City to visit the family silver mining operation, the Delegate family comes across a side show featuring a feral child. Anna Maria Delegate, Hugo's mother and Freddy Delegate, Hugo's father each become enamored with the feral girl featured in the show. They decide that they would like to take this Savage Girl back to New York with them and attempt to 'civilize' her and prepare her for a debut into New York society. Is the person the Delegate's brought home the girl that they want her to be, or is she still a savage girl at heart?
The mystery in this story is very intriguing. There are a lot of different layers and it unfolds continuously until the very end. The entire story is told from Hugo's point of view while contained within a prison cell. So, we only know what he knows about Bronwyn (the Savage Girl) which was really frustrating to me, but kept up the mystery. I really wanted to know her character and her motivations better. We find some of this out slowly throughout the story and a little bit in the epilogue. The setting Manhattan's Gilded Age was beautifully described, we are taken on a beautiful personal train that traveled across the country, into a Manhattan mansion and behind the scenes at a debutante ball. All of this glittering and rich society was well contrasted with the darkness of the brutal murders.
Savage Girl was received for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
From Manhattan's Gilded Age society Hugo Delegate finds himself confronted with a murder. Left alone in the room with the body of his dead friend, Hugo surmises that it is possible that he committed the crime and has no recollection, he also knows that it is possible that his family's ward and the girl he loves has committed the murder. Hugo recounts his entire story of the murders and the Savage Girl as he sits in the Tombs with his lawyers, desperately trying to convince them that it was he who murdered this man - and others- and not his beloved Savage Girl.
While on a trip to Virginia City to visit the family silver mining operation, the Delegate family comes across a side show featuring a feral child. Anna Maria Delegate, Hugo's mother and Freddy Delegate, Hugo's father each become enamored with the feral girl featured in the show. They decide that they would like to take this Savage Girl back to New York with them and attempt to 'civilize' her and prepare her for a debut into New York society. Is the person the Delegate's brought home the girl that they want her to be, or is she still a savage girl at heart?
The mystery in this story is very intriguing. There are a lot of different layers and it unfolds continuously until the very end. The entire story is told from Hugo's point of view while contained within a prison cell. So, we only know what he knows about Bronwyn (the Savage Girl) which was really frustrating to me, but kept up the mystery. I really wanted to know her character and her motivations better. We find some of this out slowly throughout the story and a little bit in the epilogue. The setting Manhattan's Gilded Age was beautifully described, we are taken on a beautiful personal train that traveled across the country, into a Manhattan mansion and behind the scenes at a debutante ball. All of this glittering and rich society was well contrasted with the darkness of the brutal murders.
Savage Girl was received for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.