This book opens on a winter afternoon in a small tenement apartment. A young Irish immigrant sends his wife on an errand and then, closing the gaps in windows and doors, opens the gas taps. In the aftermath of the resulting fire, Sister St. Saviour, a nun, appears to direct the way forward for his young widow and unborn child. This thread of the nun, the young widow, and the child, is followed through the story, over years, and weaves it way into the lives of other characters.
This story, set in the early part of the twentieth century, spans decades, although the story is never belabored or boring (at least, I didn't think so because I settled in with this book and just kept turning the pages). I enjoyed how the author wove the stories of the characters together, and the characters, themselves, were so clearly outlined that they were easy to imagine.
Admittedly, this book was on my TBR list, although I didn't anticipate I'd get to it anytime soon. However, my husband gave me the book on Christmas Eve and I wound up settling in and really getting into the story. I deliberately read slowly (or at least tried to) and by the end, even though it was a good ending, I was disappointed that I had reached the last page. If I had known the book would be this good, I would have grabbed it as quickly as I could have and not put it off to read in the next few months.
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