Band of Sisters by Cathy Gohlke

Maureen and Katie Rose are two sisters who are immigrants from Ireland. Maureen wants to start anew. She does not want her sister to suffer the same fate as she did. Maureen was working as a parlor maid for her landlord and violated. Her landlord forced himself on her several times tarnishing her reputation in the village. Now the landlord's son is cut from the same cloth and is eying Katie Rose who is starting to mature as a young lady. Little does Maureen know that life in New York City has men who are just as evil as the people in Ireland. Upon entering the US Maureen suffers still more hardships. She thought she could depend on an old friend that her father had but very soon learns that Mr. Wakefield has died. She find rejection from Mr. Wakefield's family. And then there is Olivia Wakefield and her friends. Olivia is the daughter of the man who died who had been the friend of Maureen's father. After reading her father's journals she realizes her family should have never turned Maureen away. She wants to honor her father's wishes but runs into trouble when Maureen rejects her. I really enjoyed this story but the O'Reilly sisters annoyed me. I don't know which sister annoyed me more. Maureen was stubborn and did not trust anybody. She also took matters into her own hands. She made decision which made things worse for her. In the second half of the book Katie Rose acted bratty and intitled. She also trusted the lies told about her sister and she gossiped about her own sister to her new circle of friends. She keep throwing in Maureen's face about her past. It really took too long for Katie Rose to come around. The character of Olivia was almost without flaws. She had a servant's heart and wanted to do Jesus would do. She formed a group of women dedicated to helping immigrant women. There was also a mystery storyline in this book. Women are disappearing after working the "upstairs" room of a department store. What is involved is white slavery. I'll stop here. I don't want to give too much of the story away to spoil it for the next reader. This book is well-written and deals with social issues. Not really heavy on the romance but there is romance. It just doesn't consume the novel like a lot of novels do. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an e-book download to review.)