The Promise

The Promise by Ann Weisgarber
320 Pages

 The book opens in October 1899 with the death of Oscar William's wife.  She extracts a promise from Nan Ogden to look after her husband and child.  We move to August 1900 and Catherine Wainwright is in disgrace in Dayton, Ohio, having carried on an affair with her cousin's husband.  With limited choices she rekindles a relationship with Oscar and accepts his proposal via mail.  She travels to Galveston, Texas to get married and find a place in the Williams household.

What the reader knows (maybe) is that Galveston is going to be devastated by a hurricane which is described as the worst disaster to ever hit the United States with approximately 8,000 deaths.  In the book the disaster is not the main character but rather the delicate relationship between Oscar and Catherine is center stage as well as Catherine's relationship with Nan, who feels displaced.  Readers of historical fiction will most likely like this book.