Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.  I loved this book!  Set in both the early turn of the 20th century and in the 1960s, it tells the story of young children smuggled into the US from Asia to be sold as workers.  It follows the stories of Ernest, Maisie, and Fahn as they struggle to survive in an adult world with the background of two World Fairs in Seattle.  The characters were well-drawn out, complex, and interesting.  The storyline kept me hooked - and even though I felt that I knew who grew up to be Gracie, it was fun getting to the revealing part of the book.  I loved Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and though I think I preferred that one just a bit more, I really enjoyed reading this one as well.  Highly recommend!

This book was a good read but very slow in places. But I would still recommend it, the story is written beautifully and was a nice change of pace for a change.

I lov d most of this book, with the exception of the first and last few pages. It was a beautiful and fascinating story of love and friendship set in a time and place I knew little about. I found the historical aspects so interesting, and the anchors of the two world fairs was wonderful. The story itself was both heart breaking and heart warming. Really my only complaint was that the first several pages were difficult for me to digest.  It felt like it was trying way too hard to be an important piece of literature. And the last few pages I felt tried too hard to be women's fiction and tie everything up with a big red bow. Overall however I will definitely recommend this book.

Just finished reading" Love and other Consolation Prizes".  Loved every minute of it.  It is the story for a love affair that spans some 60 years of a foreign born orphan boy, Earnest Young and his experiences in a brothel.  It's about his life and his two great loves, Maisie and Fahn.  I hate to tell too much in  my reviews because I prefer to learn about a book on my own so  I usually tell very little.  If you liked "On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet", I'm sure that you will enjoy this one as well.

What an unusual premise for a story: an orphan boy is raffled off as the prize in a lottery at a world's fair! Good grief! And believe it or not, that actually happened at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, WA in 1909. 

In real life, the child was a one-month-old baby boy named Ernest. The winning ticket was drawn but no one ever claimed the prize and it is not known what happened to the infant. 

Jamie Ford uses this amazing true occurrence as the idea for his new book. His protagonist is Yung Kun-ai, a 5-year-old boy, part Chinese boy/part Caucasian, who is given away by his starving mother to a man who promises to bring him to America in the hopes of finding a better life. He is just one of several abandoned or orphaned children aboard ship. After arriving at a holding center in Seattle, he is made a ward of the state and goes on to live in a series of boarding schools and reformatories. 

Now the boy is about to turn twelve and is known as Ernest Young. His sponsor, Mrs Ida Irvine, a wealthy do-gooder social reformer, is disappointed to learn that he wishes to leave his current school, the Holy Word Academy, and she is the one who comes up with the brilliant idea to make him the prize in a raffle at the upcoming world's fair, to aid a civic organization to which she belongs. 

And so the big day arrives and Ernest doesn't know what to expect. When the winning number is drawn, it seems at first that no one will claim their prize, but then a beautiful woman comes forward. She is the infamous Madame Florence who runs the Tenderloin, a high-end Seattle brothel, and she is pleased to meet her new houseboy. Mrs Irvine, of course, is appalled--the rules say that he is to go 'to a good home' after all--but Florence Nettleton wins the argument and takes her 'raffle prize' home with her. There Ernest will meet the two young girls who will be the loves of his life: Maisie and Fahn.

But the story is bookended by another World's Fair in Seattle, The Century 21 Exposition that takes place in 1962. Ernest has made a life for himself with one of those two girls who stole his heart as a young boy and they have two grown daughters. But the woman he calls Gracie is now losing her memory, a consequence of the life they led as children in the Tenderloin. And now the past must be revealed to their daughters as Ernest tries to help Gracie remember their life together. 

Jamie Ford has such an engaging writing style! It's so delightful to return to Seattle to see it in another era and experience a little known lifestyle. If you've enjoyed Jamie Ford's other books, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one just as much. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this new book.

I love the characters Jamie Ford creates, I love the way he tells his stories, very sweetly and straightforwardly, without a lot of overwriting or embellishment. I love learning about Chinese-American culture, and how his historical novels feel well-researched and authentic (this is based on a true story) without focusing on the history to the exclusion of the story. I wish he could produce new books more often, because I always really enjoy reading his books. So I'm thrilled to have read this one and sad that there won't be another for a while.

I received this book for free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved "Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" so I was excited to see a new novel by Jamie Ford and couldn't wait to read it.  I certainly wasn't disappointed.  Ford writes in a style that draws the reader into the world of the book so the sights and smells and feelings envelop you and seem almost real.

I loved that who Ernest chose from his two loves was kept a mystery until well towards the end of the book.  The writing is excellent and it's interesting that the story is told from two time periods - both with the World's Fair as a backdrop.

The raw and shocking history shown in Ernest's early years was both sad and yet inspiring that people were able to overcome such horrible beginnings.

I didn't want this book to end.

I would love to say I enjoyed the story or found it interesting but I can't. I had a difficult time keeping the characters straight. Also many of the characters had some kind of background that was never fully explained.  I really wanted to like this story but I gave up. I thought the  synopsis of the story sounded interesting which is why I requested it. However the story was a disappointment.

Such a gorgeous story. This is the first book I've read by Jamie Ford and it likely won't be my last.  Inspired by the infant boy named Ernest who was raffled off as a prize at the 1909 Seattle World's Fair (and never claimed), Love and Other Consolation Prizes pictures one possible outcome for Ernest, had he been about 11 years old instead of a baby. 

We see some of the defining moments in Ernest's life, many of which are based around the two Seattle World's Fairs, with "present day" Ernest in 1962 reflecting on his life back to 1902 and 1909-1910. His eldest daughter, now a journalist, wants to write about his experiences with the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition as the Century 21 fair is approaching. His wife Gracie, is suffering from sort of dementia, and hardly knows her husband. They are living apart and this story that his daughter wants to explore is forcing him to confront his past and present. 

We follow Ernest as he begins to find his place within a peculiar family. We meet the colorful characters that surround him and watch as Ernest begins to turn into a young man. You see some of the struggles that Asian immigrants faced during the early 20th century.  If you've been to the Pacific Northwest, or specifically Seattle, it many be especially interesting to be able to wonder how things looked then compared to now. There are mentions of the Space Needle and other places in the shadow of Mount Rainier, such as Puget Sound and the Queen Anne neighborhood. This is the book to pick up if you're looking for something a little sad but hopeful. Something to transport you into another time period, to see the struggles some of our grandparents or great-grandparents may have experience.

"'We all have things we don't talk about, Ernest thought. 'Even though, more often than not, these are the things that make us who we are.'"

Ford is the author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which is one of my favorite novels, and so I was thrilled when I saw he had written another historical novel set in Seattle. Thanks go to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the DRC, which I received free in exchange for this honest review.

Ernest is a small child when his mother, who is dying, wrenches herself away from him and puts him on a boat to the USA. He attends a charity boarding school and then is raffled off, a free orphan to a good home, by the Children’s Home Society at the Alaskan Pacific World’s Expo. It is Flora, the madam of a Seattle brothel, that claims him and brings him to the city. There he is essentially a house boy, and he forms a warm friendship with two young women employed there, Fahn and Maisie.

The narrative is divided between two time periods, the first following Ernest as he leaves China and arrives in the USA at the dawn of the twentieth century, and the second in the early 1960s when he is elderly and his wife, Gracie, is suffering from dementia. There’s an element of suspense that is artfully played as we follow both narratives, trying to untangle whether the woman that becomes “Gracie” is Maisie, Fahn, or some third person.

But Ford’s greatest strength is in bringing historical Seattle home to us. The characters are competently turned, but it’s setting that drives this book, just as it did his last one. Ernest lands in the city’s most notorious area at the time, a place just south of downtown known as the Tenderloin:

“He had never once been near the mysterious part of Seattle that lay south of Yesler Way, a street better known as the Deadline. His teachers had talked for years about sewer rats that plagued the area, and rattlesnakes, and about the wolves that prowled the White Chapel District, waiting to sink their teeth into the good people of Seattle, which a local song had dubbed the Peerless City. Ernest had imagined lanky, sinuous creatures with sharp claws and tangles of mangy fur, but as he looked out at the avenue, all he saw were signs for dance halls and saloons.”

Ernest’s years at the brothel prove to be the best of his young life, primarily because the rest of it was so much worse. Every time a rosy glow starts to form around the brothel and the condition of the women that work there, Ford injects an incident that is stark and horrible to remind us that trafficking in human beings and their most intimate acts is criminal and should never be condoned. Miss Flora is a relatively benign madam because it is better for business, not because of any sentimentality toward the women she employs. This comes to us all the more starkly when her own daughter’s virginity is raffled off to the highest bidder.

All told, this is good fiction, poignant, warm, and moving. Two things give me pause: the ending seems a little far-fetched, and the depiction of the suffragists, who are some of my greatest heroes, is so hostile that it borders on the misogynistic. However, the latter is peripheral to the main story, winking in and out briefly, and overall this novel is an appealing read. It will particularly appeal to Seattleites and to Asian-Americans.

I recommend this book to you, with the above caveats, and it for sale to the public today.

Wow! I have massive book hangover. Wow!!

    What an amazing book! 
       Told from Ernest Young's POV, it tells the story of a young boy, 1/2 Chinese and 1/2 white [and therefore not considered "human" in China], who is sold by his dying mother to a man going to America. His mother is told he will have a better life - I am sure that in the beginning, her young son would have disagreed greatly. 
The story really takes off from there - the boat trip from China to California [which is beyond perilous and where he first meets Fahn], to be "raffled" off at the AYP to Madam Flora and his life growing up in a Brothel [The Tenderloin], the story just flows along beautifully. 

Told in "present time" and in flashbacks,, you see what life was like for many of the immigrants who came here and for the girls who had no rights and no where to go <i>except</i> for places like The Tenderloin [which did not discriminate in regards to class, color or ethnicity]. 

While so much of this book is very sad, it is still very much a beautiful love story; but to say too much more about that would give it away and that would be a great disservice to the people who have not yet read this book; it is the very heart of this book and is what keeps you going when you are drenched in the sadness that surrounds that love story. 

I highly recommend both this book AND this author. What a wonderful book.

Genuinely engaging characters and a look into a part of American history that is not told in the school books. If we think human trafficking ended with the civil war, we are deluding ourselves. My heart broke for these characters - I so wanted them to have human dignity and happiness.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Jamie Ford, and Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. 

Jamie Ford is an exceptional author.  He writes with such clarity you are not just a bystander - you are there, at the World's Fair in Seattle in 1909, and again in 1962.  You become a part of the family as Ernest and Gracie survive by hook or by crook, grow up, raise their girls, grow old.  And you see the indignities suffered and privations borne in a country with whole generations lost to famine and war.  

This is a book I can easily recommend to anyone who enjoys reading at all - it is a reminder that we are among the best fed, healthiest people the world has ever known - we are the lucky ones.

Told in a dual-timeline style, the story begins with a five year old Yung Kun and the horrific events that led to his mother’s leaving him with a hairpin as she sent him off to emigrate to America.  On the boat, we see the emergence of Ernest Young, a child in 1902, half-Chinese, in scary circumstances that his young mind can’t quite process.  Instantly Ford draws readers in, giving a sense of the confusion and sorrow buried in this child, and shows us the true heart of the man to come: kindly, smart, observant and above all, his instinct to survive. Throughout the book, we follow the young boy through the arrival (and survival) at Dead Man’s Bay where his life in the Pacific Northwest begins.  Shuffled off to a boarding school as a charity student, his loney and isolated life begins: a child desperate for a home and a place to belong, in a strange land and just different enough to not be accepted by either the white or Chinese community.  As much as Ernest is changing, the world around him is too: technological advances unlike any of the previous years, the boon years at the turn of the century bring the world’s fair to Seattle – and the descriptions of the amazing sights the boy saw as he waited to become a prize in a raffle for a “Healthy boy to a good home for the winning ticket holder.”  Here is where the young Ernest shows both that strength that was hard won in a life full of challenges, and the heart that was so open and giving. Purchased by a brothel madam to be the houseboy, he’s quick to befriend the madam’s daughter and a Japanese kitchen girl, giving him the sense of family he has so longed for. 

Mixed with this tale of survival, growth and the sheer power of overcoming every obstacle, many unknown or forgotten in this modern era, we are treated to the older Ernest’s story in 1962 comes full circle with another world’s fair, and the stories he remembers that made him the man he is with his own family, friends and life.  Presenting us with an interesting perspective on the impact of decisions made or forgone, the undefinable impact of family made or born to, and the survival of the human spirit the presence of Ernest is palpable and genuine.  

It’s difficult to make this book sound just as special as it is: from the history that is learned to the descriptions of the atmosphere, the surprising (and sadly not) racism and discrimination, and the hope found from one woman determined to educate her ‘girls’, those destined for lives that can only be described as soul-draining, the strength of the characters sings loudly.  Based on a true history of the author’s grandfather, there truly could be no better way to express his appreciation, nor to honor those who brought you to life than this.  From quiet moments of reflection to the more diverse and wonder-filled descriptions of events, places and discoveries, the story keeps the reader engaged and wanting more: more for Ernest as he struggled to find a family even as he never truly lost hope or the memories of what was.  

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility. 

Review first appeared at <a href=” http://wp.me/p3OmRo-9he /”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

What a powerful, up close and personal, emotional ride featuring Ernest Young/aka Yung Kun-ai, and we walk in his shoes throughout the novel.
With a start in China our little fellow tells of horrible happenings, and being so hungry, he gleaned a harvest rice plot for a few scraps, and then he is gone. What is remarkable that he survived at all, and in doing so we meet his two daughters.
Talk about the down trodden, we meet them and through Ernest we walk in their shoes, and from the shores of China to Seattle. He was born to Chinese mother and an English father, and as such was an outcast, in both China and America.
The Worlds Fairs in Seattle, yes the one in early 1900, and again in late 1950’s are the back drop for a lot of this story, along with a brothel, and what the two have to do with each other, you are on one amazing journey once you turn the first page.
It took me a little bit to figure out who Grace was, and then more surprises are about to fall. A book to tear your heart, and again warm it, and you will be quickly be absorbed in the lives of the people and events that follow young Ernest.
I received this book through Net Galley and Ballantine Books, and was not required to give a positive review.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes is another very special offering by Jamie Ford.  Using actual historical items to spin a heart tugging tale, Mr. Ford tells the story of Ernest Young, or young Ernest as he is often called.  Sold as a small child and smuggled into the US, Ernest finds himself as a sponsored student at a private school until his sponsor actually raffles him off at the AYP Expo in Seattle in 1908.  But luck favors young Ernest and he is won by the madam of an upscale gentleman's club where he is reunited with Fhan, a young girl who was brought on the same ship with him.  

The story weaves the unlikely friendship between Ernest, Fhan, and Maisie, daughter of the madam from the day Ernest was won through to the demise of the brothel and beyond.

Jump ahead to 1962 and the Seattle Worlds Fair.  Ernest's journalist daughter Juju wants to interview him about the earlier fair and comparing the two. A simple thing until she discovers the story of the raffled boy was not only true, but  it was her father.  The fair has served to trigger memories for her mother who has been in her own world for the past few years and she is the one who tells of the raffle and spills other secrets from the past as she finds her way back to being more of herself.

A beautiful story of finding family in unlikely settings, Love and other Consolation Prizes will bring a tear to your eye and hope to your heart. The take away lesson is best seen in Ernest and the way he cares for others in his life.  A great story, I do recommend this book!

What an unexpected delight this book was!

At the age of five, Yung, embarks on a ship from China to the United States.  His life, and now this journey, has not been an easy one.  He is very fortunate to be alive.  In the U.S., after years of living in orphanages and boarding schools, at age 12 he is raffled off at the World Fair in Seattle in 1909.  His life is forever changed when the Madame from a brothel wins him.

Now named Ernest Young, Ernest finds himself a family.  And a bond with two totally different young girls, Fahn and Maisie.  Thus begins an epic story of love and heartbreak, told between two eras—1909 to present day 1962.

This book is rich in history of a time not often told.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Confession: If a book is about a fair, a carnival, or a circus in the past, I will read it. So, when I read the description of Love and Other Consolation Prizes, I immediately wanted to read it. The First World's Fair in Seattle plus a brothel? Yep. I'm in.
And this novel did not let me down. If anything, it is even better than I anticipated. This book is a sorrow-filled portrait of the lives of Asian immigrants that is so incredibly well-written you will want to savor reading it rather than rushing to reach the end. I spent the whole week reading a few chapters at a time and enjoying every minute, which is much different than a book that is primarily plot-driven that sends you rushing through the pages to reach the conclusion.

The novel tells the story of a young Chinese boy who has been sent to America and goes from one children's home to the next until he ends up the winning item in a raffle at Seattle's World Fair in 1909. Who buys him? A madam of the most prestigious brothel in Seattle. He enters a world of sin, but he winds up finding a family and falling in love.

This novel has amazing characters that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. The various working women are not caricatures but are individual and layered. The settings also come alive - they are not simply backgrounds. The Tenderloin and the World's Fair become characters themselves.

And, the writing. Oh, the writing. Tha author, Jamie Ford, has a gift for evocative language and storytelling. I could go on and on with all the beautifully written lines I underlined as I read. Basically, this novel is wonderful. I highly recommend it and think it will be a great choice for book clubs.

A tear-jerker history lesson!  Prepare yourself with tissues and a funny book to read after.

Summary From Goodreads:
Inspired by a true story, this is the unforgettable story of a young boy named Ernest, set during the 1909 Seattle world’s fair called the Alaska Yukon Pacific Expo. It is a time when the magical wonders of technology on display at the expo future seems limitless. But for Ernest, a half-Chinese orphan who found his way to America through a last desperate act of his beloved mother, every door is closed. A charity student at a boarding school, he has never really had a place to call home. Then one day, his wealthy sponsor announces that if a home is what he wants, then that is what he will have: Ernest will be offered as a prize in the daily raffle at the fair, advertised as “Healthy boy to a good home for the winning ticket holder.” The woman who “wins” him is the madam of a notorious brothel who was famous for educating her girls. He becomes a houseboy in her brothel and is befriended by the daughter of the madam, as well as a Japanese girl who works in the kitchen. The friendship and love between these three form the first real family Ernest has ever known.
My thanks to Netgalley and Ballentine Books for allowing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.  I have to admit that it took me a few days to process and come to terms not just with the content, but the layout of the book.  We first meet an older Ernest standing in front of the World Fair in the 60’s and thinking about a jumble of things from his wife, Gracie, to the poor record keeping of Chine, and then to radio waves bouncing off Cassiopeia.  Honestly it was a mess, and if I were someone that just reads the first page to decide if I want to read a book this one would have been tossed. That would have been tragic.  As the book progressed, moving from Ernest’s earliest childhood memory- the last time he saw his mother in China- to 1960’s America, it quickly found it’s pace and I was riveted.  There were moments of such haunting sadness, but also sweetness and childlike innocence in the oddest places.  I adored the characters and found them touching and well developed.  The fact that the general ideas behind who is “in the right” and “good” was often blurred and even in question here.  Mostly I was left broken yet charmed by a world  I can’t even imagine.  Due to the issues I had with the start of the book I thought I would give this one a lower rating, but I can’t.  It’s still a five star book for me and I will be searching for a hard copy of this one for my shelves.  (And as a possible gift for one of my aunties- this is right up her alley).    If you loved the lyrical beauty and poignant sadness of Memiors of a Geisha, then you will like this one I think.
On the adult content scale…. well there’s a lot.  Sexual content, though done with care and respect, language and violence.  It hits a lot of hard subjects, but I would still let my niece read it.  I give it a five.