Thank you to Penguin Australia for the review copy
She was going to tear down the walls of ancient prejudice brick by brick if she had to, and rebuild them into a castle of her own.
New York, 1897. The richest city in the world.
Beautiful, young and privileged, Rose Kingsbury Smith is expected to play by the strict rules of social etiquette, to forfeit all career aspirations and to marry a man of good means. But she has a quietly rebellious streak and is determined to make her own mark on Manhattan’s growing skyline. When the theft of a precious heirloom plunges the Kingsbury Smiths into financial ruin, Rose becomes her family’s most tradable asset. She finds herself fighting for her independence and championing the ideal of equality for woman everywhere.
Enigmatic Ethan Salt’s inglorious circus days are behind him. He lives a quiet life on Coney Island with his beloved elephant Daisy and is devoted to saving animals who’ve been brutalised by show business. As he struggles to raise funds for his menagerie, he fears he will never build the sanctuary of his dreams…until a chance encounter with a promising young architect changed his life forever.
Just when Rose is on the verge of seeing her persistence pay off, the ghosts of her past threatens to destroy everything she holds dear. In the face of heartbreaking prejudice and betrayal, she must learn to harness her greatest wonder within.
This is pitched as a crossover in a way with The Suffragette and The Greatest Showman which was one of the things that intrigued me. The other was definitely the cover and the blurb as I am trying to read a range of genres this year.
I do really enology stories where the main character tries to find their place in the world as well as seeing myself in someways in the character.
The characters were amazing and I loved following both Rose and Ethan. Rose Kingsbury Smith is a strong independent women and knows what she wants which is great. Ethan Salt is an interesting with his love of animals. The way that Ethan is first introduced to Daisy was cute and I loved how Ethan represents a lot of people who just have that immediate love for any animals that he sees. I enjoyed seeing the different relationship and friendships grow between different characters especially those between Rose and Ethan.
The Eighth Wonder has a very colourful world and world building as well as plot and I will definitely read The Eighth Wonder again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lara Jane Reviews 