A review by maestro3
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

5.0

Love and Other Consolation Prizes by J. Ford is literary fiction and also historical. It is set in Seattle. At the turn of the century (early 1900s), Asian children, especially girls, were sold as slaves to traders in the US under the pretense of finding potential husbands. Seattle was known for its red-light district where many of these girls discovered the truth of their fates. Interestingly, Seattle was also known for a strong suffragette community. Then in 1909 Seattle hosted the first world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition bringing thousands of visitors to the city. A newspaper from that era reports that a baby boy would be raffled off at the fair. These true historical elements are woven into a compelling fictional love story.