September 11, 2026
The Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins
96 year old Graziella Valentini runs her neighborhood, her church and her family with an iron hand, like a mafia don. Her daughter Grace is in the middle of a divorce that she is trying to hide from her country club friends, while her MIT educated granddaughter is floundering to find the next steps in her life. Grandmother Graziella spends her life distributing charity to those in need, but still finds time to steer her daughter and granddaughter's lives, while also fighting with the Catholic Church.
I know a lot of readers loved this but I just didn't connect with any of the characters. The plot was predictable and was really slow from the middle to the end of the book. I could see where it was going early on. The grandmother was the most developed character in the story, while the other two women characters were kind of flat. One of the things I disliked was that the granddaughter Ella had to be "rescued" by a man. Also, I'm not Catholic, but I felt that the emphasis on the church's flaws was heavy handed at times. I did like Graziella's care for homeless cats (even though I am more of a dog person), although I didn't like some of her other traits.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.
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