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After her mother dies, May Kimble is trying to figure out how she will make ends meet until an aunt she never knew she had invites her to live with family in San Francisco. The Sullivans welcome her with open arms and very generously give her everything she needs. Her beautiful and outgoing cousin, Goldie, takes May all over town to introduce her to friends in their social circle and to the comfortable life they lead. It all could seem too good to be true, but it is at once overwhelming and even boring: May would prefer to be doing something productive with her time.
And not long after arriving, May suspects strange things are going on: Goldie leaves the house late at night, the maid seems to be warning her about certain things here and there, and the long-lost aunt May would love to get to know is dosed continually with laudanum and shares only tidbits of the answers she desperately wants about her family.
Eventually, she is betrayed and everything taken from her. As she is trapped away from anyone who could help her, May first struggles just to survive in horrible circumstances. Then, she begins to realize that she can collect and strategically use secrets — which could be the key to regaining her freedom and exacting revenge on those who played such a dangerous game with her.
Then the earthquake of 1906 strikes the city, giving May the opportunity she needs. With the help of a society writer she had become acquainted with, she can ruin the lives of those who should have helped her. The question is only how much damage she will choose to do — and what kind of a life can she claim and create for herself.
A Splendid Ruin is a compelling story of a young woman with nothing to her name who may have more than she knows; her mother kept secrets, and her newfound family aren’t enlightening her, either. As a woman in the early 1900s, she is limited with what she can do to take care of herself, but she uses the skills she does have and some keen observation to survive and even thrive. It works well drawing a picture of society life in that era and depicting just how devastating the earthquake was, with several thousand dead and half the city (rich and poor) left without homes. I liked seeing May go from somewhat naïve to take-back-her-life strong.
Rated: Moderate. There are occasional instances of mild and moderate profanity. Sexual content is mild; there are references to affairs, brief references to a doctor having his way with patients and having sex with a nurse, one sex scene of just a sentence or two with few details, and another only alluded to. The main character spends time in a mental institution in 1905, and it’s just as bad as one hears; there is some violence, with one patient trying to strangle others a few times, and staffers being rough with patients; conditions are filthy and degraded. After the earthquake, there are references to dead bodies and some severed body parts, and there is looting and violence as people try to survive or take advantage of the chaos.
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