The Promise

I very much enjoyed The Promise by Ann Weisgarber which is a love story set around a devastating hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in September 1900.  Living in Ohio, Catherine Wainwright is an accomplished concert pianist who has an illicit affair with a married man which causes a scandal.  She is ostracised by her friends and family and no longer able to earn a living.  Finally realising her affair holds no future for her she tries to find an alternative.  She remembers a childhood friend, Oscar, who moved to Galveston some years ago and she resumes a correspondence with him.  Oscar has been recently widowed and left with a 4 year old son, Andre.  A local woman, Nan, who was a great friend of Oscar's wife made her a promise that she would always look after Andre.  Catherine travels to Galveston and events unfold from there.  Each chapter is told in the first person by either Nan or Catherine, so the reader sees each perspective. The reader lives through the terror of the storm with the realistic depiction and the suspense of waiting to see who survives. This is beautifully written  41/2/5