Midnight Laceby MacKinlay Kantor | |
| Category: |
"Fiction - Romance" |
|---|---|
| Pages: | 256 |
| Year of Publication: | 1947 |
| Date Added: | 02/23/2021 |
| Date Read: | 12/20/2024 |
| Notes: | Dolly Hessian has a past she wants to escape from. She was an orphan, raised in a Chicago brothel, and had her share of men. In 1911, when in her late 20s, she decided to leave her past behind. She moved to Lexington, Iowa, got a job as a milliner, and looked for a rich man to marry. Her first choice was State Senator Abie Newgate, an older man with a lot of mistresses. She begins to work on him — making sure she appears to be a moral and refined lady — and soon has him giving her gifts. But then she meets Ben Steele, owner of a large stable/carriage maker shop. He's close to her age and interested. They begin spending time together and before long, get married. Dolly continues to scheme to make her future what she wants it to be, but she also grows to love Ben. She wants him to give up his horse-related business and concentrate on automobiles, but he's reluctant. The travel to Chicago, where Newgate happens to be. The senator buys her an expensive piece of jewelry and offers it to her if she'll come to her room. She does, but stays only long enough to receive the jewelry and get Newgate to telegram his political bosses to nominate Ben for a state office. Newgate assumes bed is next, but Dolly leaves. Newgate gets drunk and falls to his death from his balcony. Dolly rushes to the bedside of Newgate's dying wife and gives her the jewelry. The incident shakes her. She decides to visit the woman who raised her. Ben follows and finds out about her past, but still loves her. Back in Iowa, they quarrel about his work again. When the stables burn down, Ben believes Dolly started the fire. But when he finds out that she risked her life to enter the burning building and rescue horses, which she hates, he learns the truth. They end up happy together and Dolly has the life she wanted. |
| My Rating: | 6 |
Reviewed by Roger on 2024-12-21 08:42:09
