Cover Image: Carnegie's Maid

Carnegie's Maid

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Member Reviews

This book was such an interesting read. The history woven into the story line. I felt so sorry for Clara in many ways. A bright kind mind in an era where class separation was prevalent. Clara is a strong female.

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Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the Arc!

Everyone knows the name Carnegie, but Marie Benedict gives us the man behind the name. More importantly we see the woman who inspired his transition from robber baron to philanthropist. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, giving an "Upstairs Downstairs" perspective to this well know historic figure,

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I don't know how this book got overlooked for so long but better late never.. It is an interesting story but I don't know how much is based on fact. Not very exciting but an enjoyable read...

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Very interesting and enjoyable read. It was informative yet entertaining - just what historical fiction should be.

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Clara Kelly is sent by her family from Ireland to America to seek a new life, and hopefully some money to send home. When she arrives, someone is there to meet here – or at least, another Clara Kelly. She assumes the place and identity of the missing Clara Kelly, who was making the journey to America to take a job as a lady’s maid for the wealthy Mrs Carnegie. Using her wit and work ethic, Clara manages to excel at her job and along the way, becomes close to Mrs Carnegie, the successful businessman Mr Andrew Carnegie. However, can she keep her secret in this new world?

This book was a really interesting insight to American history and industry in the 19th century, and the plight of immigrants in America. Clara sees the intense poverty of most immigrants and the luxurious wealth of families like the Carnegie’s and so the book contrasts both really well. There are also small insights to the experiences of freed slaves and female nurses in the civil war which I liked, although I would have seen some more of these.

The concept behind this book is that a romance between Andrew Carnegie and a servant, Clara, could have been what incited him to become a philanthropist and give away so much of his wealth. This was an interesting idea but wasn’t really convincing. I also felt that Clara sometimes fell a bit flat. I would have also really liked for her to have to accept and own her identity, which didn’t happen.

This was quite a short book so I finished it quite quickly. In hindsight, it really did slow down in the middle, with the story ending quite clunkily at the end, but it wasn’t quite long enough for me to get bored.

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While I love a good historical fiction book, this wasn't it for me. I found it hard to believe that Clara Kelly inspired much in ol' Andrew Carnegie, as her character was incredibly boring. She seemed uppity and very judgmental for someone who basically stole a dead person's identity and came into a prestigious job by means of duplicity. I would've much rather have read a story about the dowager Carnegie, as she had some spunk and seemed to be the only three-dimensional character in this entire story.

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2857848260

I enjoy this genre and this era but this book was disappointing. Too little history, too little romance, too much fiction. There was no substance at all to this book.

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Yes, of course I knew who Andrew Carnegie was. The friendly guy with the soft eyes who built free libraries.

It was different "seeing" him portrayed in this human form. But I loved it. Just like with The Other Einstein, Marie Benedict crafted a fictional story that can so easily be the God honest truth. In both cases, I believe in them.

Lovely atmospheric book that made you feel part of the household. Strong character development and a highly believable story. That's how I like my historical fiction.

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I generously received a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is the story about a young Irish immigrant named Clara Kelley who just happened to be in the right place at the right time and finds herself taking on the roll of Lady's Maid to Mrs. Carnegie and finds herself drawn to her son Andrew.
Over the course of two years, Clara works hard to ignore her feelings for Andrew as the money from the job is a help to her family in Ireland while also trying to keep it a secret as to where she really came from.
Clara learns a lot about herself, some of the business aspects of the Carnegie world in Pennsylvania and that sometimes fate has a different say as to how life can turn out.
Full of tidbits of history, a bit of burns and the power of determination, it was a pleasure to read this book. The ending was unexpected and yet made sense considering the historical aspects of the real Andrew.
I highly recommend checking this book out!

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Carnegie's Maid is a read that will satisfy any historical fiction lover. Clara Kelly is a sympathetic character who is determined--time and again--to do what it right, directed by her moral compass. The way she inspires Andrew Carnegie to live his life in a similar manner is fascinating to watch it unfold. Marie Benedict is a skilled writer, not only for conjuring up the story, but how carefully it is constructed and created and comes to life on the page. I gave this novel four stars on Goodreads--at times the pacing was a bit slow, and at times Clara was almost unbelievably moral and it seemed she could do no wrong.

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I would recommend to everyone who likes historical fiction. And this book was the first book that goes on my favorites list that published 2018. Don't miss it. I would surely read Marie Benedict's other book (The Other Einstein) :)))

The story happens in the 1860s. This story begins as giving us a little glimpse of how it will end and just with this first and last time we will see from Andrew's POV how he feels about all the things happened. The way he thinks was enough for me to like him from the beginning.
After that, we read the story from Clara's POV. I would love to read from time to time from Andrew's (Mr. Carnegie) POV too. Well, it doesn't matter I loved it anyway. Clara leaves her country for America because of the family's financial difficulties and her over cleverness for a farm girl. After the journey on the ocean, she arrived in America and with luck (this come to me little too much luck to be believable but I think it can happen not impossible) she began working as a Mrs. Carnegie's Maid even though she didn't have any clue how she can be one. Even though she struggles with her duties as a maid she handles it with luck, a great effort, and cleverness. After a while, she began to talk with Mr. Carnegie (Andrew), and then the story goes on with they began to like each other.
I loved Andrew and Clara as a person and the way they act towards each other. There were a lot of side characters even though they weren't well known for us with the way they act in the story they were real for me. I don't know anything about how was America in the 1860s (history not my province) but the story makes me feel like it was real. I loved how she handles problems by observing everything. She was a lovely character and strong girl who doesn't satisfy with just what she has but always search a way to improve herself and saves her family. Even when she was angry towards Andrew she shows empathy towards him and judges herself too. I loved the way Andrew talk with her and care what she feels about anything he does how they improve each other and how easily he accepts her cleverness. In shortly I loved anything about this book, I just wanted it to be longer and to read from Andrew's POV too :))))
Thanks to #NetGalley and the SOURCEBOOKS Landmark providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

PS. because of some problems at my Barnesandnoble account my reviews weren't live but I wasn't aware of it. After checking it lately, I added them again. Now, there isn't any problem and my review is live in Barnesandnoble site and the link is added in my NetGalley review. Sorry for the late fix.

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A little dry and slow, I wasn't as tied to the characters as I would have liked. I found it to be a slog to get through.

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A thoroughly enrapturing tale of the history of immigrants and Carnegie’s role in USA’s post Civil War era that gave rise to industry, the public library and philanthropy that changed the path of so many European immigrants. The fight for immigrant survival and ability to rise above and thrive is a big theme throughout, as is the need for social equality. Not only did I enjoy the characters and relationships Benedict created, I also learned a lot about the Carnegie family and their rising empire. Truly a fascinating piece of historical fiction.

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Marie Benedict weaves a tale of strength and perseverance in this book about an Irish immigrant, Clara Kelly, sent to America in the 1860's. As we follow Clara's story and see how she changes the lives of those around her we are also allowed the beauty of the Era to shine through in Benedict's description of everything from the city streets, to the buildings, to the fashions. She paints beautiful pictures of our country during and post civil war. A must read.

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This was a nice twist of history about a woman who we would never know. It made Carnegie's philanthropy that much more real.

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This was slow and did not keep me engaged. The best part was the pretty cover that drew me in. Unfortunately, the actual storyline did nothing for me.

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Oh well! Aside from the fact that I don't like romance, I felt like there were some inconsistencies. He was super authoritarian with his employees and super nice with Clara. Carnegie felt like he was two characters at once in this book. That just didn't do well with me. I would've much preferred if he just stayed mean. Also, I didn't really like how we're simply supposed to believe that on the same ship, there were two Clara Kellys but one got conveniently murdered on her way to the US. Moreover, how did she learn to be such a great maid when she's had no previous training? There are definitely some questions that were left unanswered for me.

I still liked the writing even though it was slow paced so, I will definitely try to pick up her latest book "The Only Woman in the Room".

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Andrew Carnegie change my life- I won the award which funded my postgraduate degree and remain in awe of this famous Scot.
Getting to the book- an interesting account of a tough ruthless man of the 19th century to a man ahead of his time and motivated out of love.

I ask did this man become one of history’s biggest philanthropists because of his heart?

A well written sweeping story that touched me without all the hearts and roses stuff.

I didn’t really want to finish this book.

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I found Carnegie's Maid both fascinating and frustrating - neither Carnegie nor his maid were completely admirable characters, but I found myself increasingly interested in both their stories. I did find the ending a little frustrating, and some of Benedict's depictions of life in Ireland and for Irish immigrants a bit cliched, but other readers may disagree.

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I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its historical insight. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Benedict fans in future!

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