Inspired by her own family’s history and the stories she grew up hearing, Chanel Cleeton writes with a clear and beautiful voice as she brings us another sure-to-be bestseller with The Last Train to Key West. Three women, each in very different circumstances, but each with a fascinating story, touch each other’s lives through little more than happenstance in the shadow of a natural disaster.
A book that weaves together the stories of remarkable women always hits my sweet spot, so when I picked this book up thinking I would do just a little lazy Saturday morning reading, I soon realised I could not put it down. Each character is so unique and interesting, and written so incredibly well, that within just a few pages each already feels like a living, breathing person. It takes no time at all to get completely invested into their lives.
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 is a very real event, in fact to this day it remains one of the three worst Atlantic hurricanes on record. It is against the background of this looming storm that we meet the three magnificent characters that the story revolves around.
Helen is a kind waitress in a diner and is very heavily pregnant. She’s a local in Key West who seems to brighten the day of most of her customers while she herself lives a rather miserable life in a run-down beach shack with her physically abusive fisherman husband. One customer comes to her aid and begins to change the course Helen believed her life was set on.
Mirta is on her honeymoon in the Keys after just marrying an American man who is a virtual stranger to her. Back in Havana, her family had fallen on difficult times financially as well as politically. This arranged partnership would benefit her family greatly. Slowly, however, she is beginning to learn of her new husband’s notoriety and how dangerous her new life may be.
Elizabeth has come down to the Keys from New York searching for someone. At the same time, she is also searching for a solution of how to save her family after the devastating Wall Street collapse. As a young, single woman she is not safe investigating the Veterans Camps with their poor sanitation conditions and thousands of strangers. Fortunately, she finds a rather unexpected ally along her journey, though he has secrets, too.
The stories of all three women are fascinating and beautifully written. Each of their stories is completely unique and are interwoven beautifully. In the events of each story there are men involved, but our three women are always the focus. Each of them feel incredibly modern, but still fit perfectly into the 1930’s narrative.
The storm looming over the novel is a character in and of itself and it is written ass perfectly as Cleeton’s human characters. As someone who lives in a hurricane-prone area, I admit to being quite particular about how hurricanes are described or used in stories. Cleeton does an outstanding job of capturing and conveying the attitudes of locals before storms move in, the general disagreement about where storms will go, and the sheer panic when it is suddenly too late to decide about evacuation and you are left to your own devices.
Without a doubt, this is one of those books that as soon as you finish it you will be handing it off to your best friend. It is a great book club selection, and will make the perfect summer beach read. I highly recommend it especially for fans of Chanel Cleeton’s previous novels as well as fans of All the Ways We Said Goodbye or Fountains of Silence. This is another masterwork of historical fiction.
The Last Train To Key West is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 16th 2020.
Will you be picking up The Last Train To Key West? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels toward the Florida Keys in New York Times best selling author Chanel Cleeton’s captivating new novel.
Everyone journeys to Key West searching for something. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape.
The Cuban Revolution of 1933 left Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position. After an arranged wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can’t deny the growing attraction to the stranger she’s married, her new husband’s elicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life.
Elizabeth Preston’s trip from New York to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles as a result of the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own.
Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly , and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys.
Wow! That sounds like a very interesting read!