A Wild and Heavenly Place

A Wild and Heavenly Place, another phenomenal story written by Robin Oliveira, is inspired by the author’s great-great grandfather immigrating to America from Scotland. Oliveira’s beautiful prose drew me into this love story of reversed fortunes and ultimate sacrifices immediately, and kept me turning the pages till the end. She definitely did her research as the historical details are remarkable. The scenery is so vivid adding a tactile sense to the experience of reading this story. Oliveira as always gives her readers characters that are true to life, and luckily we get to follow them as they struggle through life first in Glasgow and then in frontier Seattle, in this heart wrenching beautifully written story. I highly recommend A show more Wild and Heavenly Place, one of the most exquisite and memorable historical novels I have read in a long time.

I received a complimentary copy from Putnam/Penguin Random House through NetGalley for an honest review. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review and all opinions are my own. show less

Narrated by Katy Townsend, Angus King and Tavia Gilbert. Hailey MacIntyre and Samuel Fiddes are starcrossed lovers from Scotland who meet and become secret friends when Sam saves Hailey's little brother Geordie from being run over. Hailey's family is well-to-do and privileged while Sam and his little sister live in poverty in a Glasgow tenement. When the MacIntyre fortune falls due to a bank failure, Mr. MacIntyre takes the family to Washington Territory for a new opportunity. Still in love with Hailey, Sam strikes out for Seattle with his sister. He finally finds Hailey exactly one day after she marries abusive James out of desperation to save her crumbling family. As Seattle grows, Sam's fortunes rise as a shipbuilder while Hailey is show more mired in domestic misery. The happy ending is a foregone conclusion; so much longing over three years has to end up somehwere! The audio performances are strong and evocative of people and place, but to me James came off as a cartoon villain and the voices of African-American Pruss and John Salvation didn't quite hit right. show less

Hailey and her family are very rich and live in Glasgow, Scotland. Samuel is very poor and struggling to feed himself and his sister. When he saves Hailey’s little brother from a runaway carriage. His world changes. He falls head over heels for Hailey. He knows she is out of his league. But not long after that fateful day, Hailey’s father loses it all. She and her family move to America. But this does not stop Samuel. He follows her!

I cannot think of a better day to post about star-crossed lovers than on February 14. Life just keeps getting in the way of these two. But, you just can’t help but keep rooting for them!

I enjoyed so much about this novel. The setting, the characters and the story just reeled me in. The tragedy that show more follow both of these characters just break your heart but you just can’t stop reading!

Need a heartbreaking, captivating, star-crossed lovers tale…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion. show less

One family goes from luxury to poverty while another goes from poverty to more poverty, but then both circle back.

The MacIntyre family was living in luxury until the bank of Glasgow failed.

Samuel was poverty stricken from birth.

Harold Macintyre lost everything including his job.

He decided to move his family from Scotland to Seattle, Washington, where he was hoping to get a job in the coal business.

It was a rude awakening for his family, but now they know how the poor that Mrs. MacIntyre had no time for back in Scotland had to live.

Hailey MacIntyre was more devastated than her mother because she had fallen in love with Samuel Fiddes a poor dock worker back in Scotland. Her mother forbid her to see Samuel.

Meanwhile Samuel is on his way to show more Seattle to find Hailey, and she doesn’t know it.

We follow Samuel, his little sister Allison, and the MacIntyre family as we share in their struggle to live and live with them in their sorrows in this time frame - 1878 to 1882.

I loved sweet Allison.

Samuel will warm your heart too with how he takes care of his sister.

You will also feel the pain of most of the characters, but you will want James to have some pain.

The descriptions were very vivid and easily took you to the setting. Ms. Oliveria’s Writing is beautiful and lush.

There also is some heartbreaking romance, but more of the lives of the characters and how the homesteaders built a life for themselves and the country in the wild area they lived in. 5/5

Historical fiction fans will enjoy this book even though most is about hardships and heartbreak.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. show less

Living in the greater Seattle area I enjoyed reading about the city during its infancy. The romance was fun and kept me turning the pages. However the love story it seemed a little weakly grounded— I wish there was more story at the beginning to establish the relationship. Some of the secondary characters along the way seemed a little underdeveloped as well. I was worried this would have a tragic ending and while it ended up ending well, there were a few unresolved threads (Allaway’s payments? Samuel’s bank loans? Bonnie?) I also wish there had been Scottish slang and culture incorporated throughout.

DNF p. 50. I judged a book by its cover synopsis and author blurbs, which got me to give this a shot, and realized pretty quickly that it's not for me. The first five chapters set up a precious and trite historical romance featuring superficial dialogue and cardboard cross-class stereotypes à la The Gilded Age. It will appeal to a lot of folks but I was looking for something else.

The subtitle on my ALC version was "A Novel of Seattle" so I had big hopes for more info about a city I have come to enjoy. Although 2/3 of the book took place there, it felt like cursory facts and events were just dropped in for historical fiction benefit. This story could have taken place any number of places. The Scottish immigration to that area was interesting, and could've been developed in ways that didn't just gloss over the population's presence there. Hailey MacIntyre and Samuel Fiddes meet as teenagers in Glasgow, but she is from a wealthy, upper class family and he is an orphan eking out a living in the tenements and taking care of his young sister. Of course love and attraction grow between the 2 forbidden lovers, but then show more the MacIntyre family has a change of fortune when Mr.'s role as a mine supervisor is lost due to an explosion and a bank fails with all his money. Off they go to Washington Territory to start afresh - and Hailey barely has time to let Samuel know. His love for her drives him to follow after her about 4 mos. later, with sister in tow. The MacIntyres have not fared well living without servants and society and an appropriate position for Mr. Mac. He is now just a fire boss in a mine, earning a pittance. Samuel meanwhile is a rising star, with hard work and some ship-building skills and miracle of miracles, he finds Hailey in Seattle - a day too late. They co-exist there for a few years, denying their passion, but several events bring everything to a head, which is not surprising and is somewhat anti-climactic. Fair, even story-telling, but nothing to get excited about. show less