The story is told by Neil Herbert, a young man we follow from childhood to adulthood, who witnesses the glory and subsequent decline of Marian Forrester and her husband, Captain Daniel Forrester. Captain Forrester is a railroad pioneer, making a fortune from building the tracks and investing his money. He covets his young and beautiful wife whilst she flirts back and forth with other men. They invite people to their magnificent house and show off. But fate turns, and they lose everything. Captain Forrester will die after two strokes, as will the pioneering era, and Marian will hold on a little longer, giving herself to a young man that only has eyes for her property. It seems that F. Scott Fitzgerald borrowed a few things from this book to write his “Great Gatsby”. An enjoyable read, a glimpse into the great American dream.
“The Captain looked down the table between the candles at Mrs. Forrester, as if to consult her. She smiled and nodded, and her beautiful earrings swung beside her pale cheeks. She was wearing her diamonds tonight, and a black velvet gown. Her husband had archaic ideas about jewels; a man bought them for his wife in acknowledgement of things he could not gracefully utter. They must be costly; they must show that he was able to buy them, and that she was worthy to wear them.”
Listened to as an audiobook