Monday, February 17, 2014

Tuesday Memes: A Snug Life Somewhere

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Today I am spotlighting A Snug Life Somewhere by Jan Shapin.

A Snug Life Somewhere is about Penny Joe Copper, daughter of a roustabout shingle weaver, who is caught up in a 1916 union tragedy known as the Everett Massacre. Her brother Horace is killed, as is the cousin of a radical organizer, Gabe. When her love affair with Marcel, a music student seven years her junior, is thwarted, she is pulled into Gabe as campaign to avenge the Everett Martyrs.She follows Gabe to Mexico (where they live in a household of Bolsheviks bent on smuggling jewels), then to Chicago (where she rediscovers Marcel, steals a Faberge egg and escapes from Gabe). Then a second event intervenes at the Seattle General Strike of 1919. Penny Joe returns to Seattle to confront Gabe and meets up with a mysterious stranger who turns out to be J. Edgar Hoover. Should she give the Faberge egg to Hoover as evidence against Gabe or just disappear and start a new life? Is she ever going to reunite with her lost love, Marcel?

Opening Paragraph
    My brother died on November 5, 1916. I found out one cold afternoon in Seattle, while waiting for a ferryboat that had steamed away that morning to Everett with a load of college students and union protesters who had gone to demonstrate support for a strike the world has now forgotten. Those of us waiting on the dock knew there had been passengers injured or killed. I remember the newsboys with their late editions, reporting on a massacre, how the sheriff’s deputies in Everett had fired on the Verona as it docked, passengers rushing away from the gunfire, pitching the boat so that those by the rail were pushed into the bay.

My Teaser
“Horace” I remember starting out, “was my younger brother. Nearly six years younger.” I realized that I’d given away my age to anyone who cared to count, and most particularly, to Josephine.
page 65
So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below!

13 comments:

  1. Really cool teaser. Not my usual read, but sounds interesting. Happy reading. Here is my TT http://cynthiastacey.com/2014/02/18/teaser-tuesday-feb-18/

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  2. So sad :(

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Colletta

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  3. Sound like a promising historical novel!
    Harvee
    Book Dilettante

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  4. I on the fence with this one, it doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but I do love the cover.

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  5. This doesn't sound like the sort of thing I usually read but it is intriguing. My teasers this week are from Shame on You by Tara Sivec and Burn Bright by Bethany Frenette. Happy reading!

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  6. I love historical fiction, but the blurb seems very fact-heavy! But I hope you're enjoying it and it is most definitely intriguing! Thanks for sharing and stopping by :) Hope you have a great week!
    Juli @ Universe in Words

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  7. I enjoy historical novels, so long as the characters' encounters with real historical people seem believable. This sounds like a good one.
    My Teaser is from SINFUL FOLK.

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  8. Love the cover! And the excerpts are great, too. Not usually my genre, but it is my grandmother's era, so I am fascinated. Thanks for sharing.

    Here's MY TUESDAY POST

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  9. This sounds like it might be an interesting read! I'd give it a try.

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  10. Not an easy read, not sure if I would continue. But I also love the cover.

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  11. Not my usual cup of tea, but I do like the title. Thanks for sharing and for stopping by my blog.

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  12. I like the opening so I'd read a bit more. This book is new to me, so thank you for joining and sharing.

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