Dreamland is a great book with an intriguing plot, complex characters, and a lot of literary references littered throughout the pages. It’s told from the first-person perspective of Peggy Batternberg, an heiress who would rather be working at a bookshop than playing croquet with America’s elite. Peggy’s quest for freedom leads her to love but it also leads her to a mystery that must be solved.

I really enjoyed Bilyeau’s writing style. It was swift, energetic, and full of personality. Bilyeau created tension within the mundane, keeping me on the edge of my seat even in the simplest of moments. I also really liked the narrative voice she created. Personally, I’m not a big fan of first-person narratives but I did get used to it and I grew to love Peggy within the first couple of chapters. I was lured into a false sense of security by the third-person prologue but I eventually got over that particular betrayal. Peggy’s narrative voice was strong but also vulnerable. She’s like a bird, ensnared in a cage but longing to be free and, although she’s an upper-class heiress, her thirst for freedom and a life of her own choosing makes her relatable. I liked the split between her public reactions to events, often muted and demure, and the stronger, more opinionated private reaction that’s reserved for her inner thoughts. Bilyeau is playing with how the early twentieth-century expected upper-class women to behave and contrasting these expectations with Peggy’s true thoughts and actions. Peggy is daring, eager to love, and unafraid of her own sexuality. Yet, she’s still vulnerable and a little naïve about how the world around her actually works. I just loved her.

I found the first half of the book a little bit slow but it was still interesting. It wasn’t boring, per se, just calmer than I expected. The mystery aspect of the plot starts to pick up around the halfway point but before that Bilyeau builds the tension through a complicated relationship between Peggy and her sister’s fiancé, Henry Taul. Although I was anticipating the mystery aspect of the plot, which really begins when Peggy visits Coney Island, the relationships between the characters and Peggy’s narrative voice kept me entertained and curious. The second half of the book was much more intense and action-packed as bodies begin to appear in the places that Peggy has visited.

I’d highly recommend this book. It was a wonderful historical mystery novel which intrigued me from beginning to end. I loved the characters and their complicated relationships, I adored Bilyeau’s intense but fluid writing style, and I enjoyed the plot immensely.

Dreamland is a bit of a genre-crossing conundrum. Though it excels in atmosphere with its rich historical descriptions and whimsical Coney Island ambiance, and while it also features well-rounded characters as well as shows some shifting paradigms between the sexes, between the social classes in a melting pot America of the early 20th century where the privileged ablate their problems with money and family names as the immigrant-poor face harsh living conditions and unfair prejudices, all of which I appreciated, this book couldn't quite topple into what it wanted most to be.

It veers from historical fiction into insta-love romance only to then tumble into a mystery thriller, with murder and policemen popping up from the boardwalk like daisies. All these elements ended up feeling a little unbalanced as a result. It didn't detract from my overall interest in the characters (Peggy and Lydia particularly), or in their obstacles overall; instead, it made the story feel disjointed or unfocused in areas. Almost as if the plot were stretched thin so as to cover all its competing genre bases.

That said, unwrapping all the sordid secrets that lay behind the Batternberg family's prestige and reputation is shocking fun. I also quite enjoyed the commentary on being a 'new woman' in a time, in a family, where women were supposed to fall in line and defer to menfolk for everything to do with their own lives.

Though someone in her family attempts to cow her at every turn, Peggy finds her own ways to indulge in little freedoms: whether that means working in a bookshop to earn her own living, falling in love with a pier-side artist from Serbia named Stefan, or aiming to solve a murder or two. The girl's got spunk, plain and simple. She's the kind of character you want to get behind and know better, especially as she works to solve a twisted Coney Island murder mystery.

This novel a nice dip into 1911 New York. It's full of societal qualms and bigotry and the changing American landscape, and for that--for that, it's worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Endeavor Media for the ARC!

It is said that every family has a black sheep, even the rich and well known Batternbergs, 20 year old Peggy has earned the unkind and unfair title of black sheep of the black sheep, her father having died in debt and in morally disreputable circumstances a few years earlier. .In order to save her branch of the family from total financial embarrassment Peggy's sister is to marry into another well-to-do family and to seal the deal both families will spend the summer of 1911 in Coney Island, New York. Peggy is very unhappy about this arrangement. She does not confirm to her family's idea of how a young society lady should behave and is virtually dragged kicking and screaming to the Oriental Hotel for the summer. But even though petulant Peggy is determined to hate every minute of the summer in the presence of her overpowering, snobbish family, she soon finds herself seduced by the sights and sounds of Coney Island, particularly the amusement park known as 'Dreamland'. After meeting a young man settling his artwork in the park Peggy thinks that despite the constant disapproval of her family this could turn out to be a wonderful summer after all. But when a couple of young women turn up dead on the beach Peggy unwillingly finds herself drawn in a twisted murder mystery.

A very readable historical fiction murder mystery with a touch of romance that also deals with issues of class, race and religion.

Have you been to America’s Playground? Coney Island?

I’ve always wanted to visit.

Dreamland has Coney Island as a backdrop, and it’s 1911.

This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own

Dreamland is a suspenseful historical fiction of obsession and desire.

This fascinating portrait of the end of the Gilded Age was a fabulous start to 2020. Set in New York 1911, the Battenberg family are one of the richest in America, with the Vanderbilts and Rockerfellas,

Peggy Battenberg is a young heiress who struggles against the bonds of societal restrictions placed on women of her class. Peggy, against her families wishes takes a job at the Moonrise Bookstore, and lives with her ex teacher. When her family intervenes, and she is told that she is required to take a summer vacation at the Oriental Hotel, a once-grand oceanfront resort on Coney Island. For the sake of her sister Lydia, who is engaged to the rich Henry Taul, Peggy succumbs to her family’s wishes.

Nancy Bilyeau’s writing catapults you into this vibrant outstanding thriller set in end of Gilded Age. Dreamland is a splendid, intoxicating book, with plenty of multi layered suspense.

Nancy Bilyeau delivers an extremely entertaining storyline, with captivating underlying tension. This gripping, perfectly paced and well-written read here that I absolutely loved how seamlessly and cleverly written this story was, and thought the author did a fabulous job with the delivery. I was totally invested all the way through to the satisfying end.

Dreamland and the rest of Coney Island is an intoxicating, hedonistic and full of life. Peggy gets to experience life from a completely different perspective than she has ever before. Mixing with artists, dancers, the inhabitants of Lilliput, along with food vendors. There is also a sinister side to this plot line, that adds an intriguing twist to the book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Scandal and intrigue along with family drama makes for an extraordinary thought-provoking novel. A fabulous mystery/thriller that I was immediately drawn into and devoured quickly.

I received this book from Netgalley as an advanced reader's copy. The cover drew me in to this beautifully written book. Set in the 1920s, part murder mystery, part romance, part historical fiction the book addresses the gaps between rich and poor, racism and anti-semitism, issues that are very relevant today.

I originally requested this on Netgalley after seeing a review on Goodreads from someone I follow. What immediately grabbed my attention was the mention of “The Night Circus”. Anytime that book is compared to something else, I have to read it. So that is what I did.

I am not sure how to summarize this book. It is part historical fiction, part romance, and part mystery. It has a lot of parts, but not a main focus.

It is Historical Fiction because it takes place in the early 1910s in New York and Coney Island. We follow a very wealthy family as they spend the summer at Coney Island. While 98% of the characters in this novel are fictional people, there are mentions of some important people that were alive during that time and are a big part of American history.

It is part Romance because our main female character, Peggy, meets an immigrant, Stefan, during one of her visits to Dreamland. She immediately falls for him and they start a “relationship”, but it is very brief and not well developed at all.

Lastly, it is part mystery because there is a murderer on the loose and women’s bodies are being found on the beach and in Dreamland. The book opens up with what is suggested to be mysterious behavior, possibly a glimpse of the murderer.

While I did enjoy reading this book at the time, looking back, it was a bit of a mess. Each individual element had potential. I am a huge Historical Fiction fan, but I have never read anything concerning Coney Island during the early 1900s. Personally, I would have loved if this book focused more on the romance with the backdrop of Coney Island and Dreamland. That would have been an intriguing, beautifully written book that I would have been all about.

What I could have done without was the murder mystery that was secondary, in my opinion, but popped up every once in a while. In fact, I forgot there was a mystery going on because aside from the opening of the book, we didn’t hear about it for a while after that. Mystery/Thriller is my most read genre, so I expect a lot out of it. This fell flat. It was very predictable and not at all shocking. Which, if I am being honest, 2019 was a year of disappointing reveals. But if the writing is good and the path to the reveal is good, I can handle a mediocre reveal. Unfortunately, the lead up was all over the place.

I think that is my overall experience and final thoughts of this book. It was just all over, trying to be multiple things, but not succeeding at any of them.

I am not sure if I would consider this an adult novel or a YA. We are following Peggy, who is 20. Sometimes she is portrayed as very grown up, very smart. Then other times she is very juvenile, very child like. There could be a lot of factors to that. Peggy is part of a very wealthy family, where they employ people to do a lot of their day to day things. There was one scene in particular where she went to draw herself a bath, instead of her maid doing it. We got a narrative on how she was struggling to turn the faucet on, that she didn’t know how to do it. Whatever the author intended of this, my thought was “are you kidding”. Later on in the book we now have Peggy who is single handedly solving the mystery and figuring out who the murderer is. It doesn’t make sense. It is like she has two different personalities, two different age ranges. Little things, but can take you out of a story.

Overall, the story was okay. I am disappointed because I think it had the potential to be a new favorite of mine. It had some of my favorite aspects of a book. It just was a little messy and a little disjointed and confused on what It really wanted to be.

3 Stars

I requested this book on NetGalley as the cover looked amazing and the description seemed interesting enough. Unfortunately, "don't judge a book by its cover" really does apply here - the cover was the best (only good) thing I can say about this book.
I haven't read anything before by this author, so I was going in fresh. The writing seemed stilted from page one. It starts as if the main character is telling the story looking back on a past event, with the exact date being given in the first few paragraphs (why?), as if reminiscing. But then the only nostalgic feel to the book comes on the pen-ultimate page, where said main character muses on how her life would turn / turned out after the events of the book -- it just felt so forced to me, as if the author wished to tell us the exact time the book took place, and also reassure us how the main character's life turned out in the end without too much "fluff". I honestly don't know what the intention or thought behind this was, but it just didn't work for me. And force-feeding us the exact date just served as jarring error later on, so, it kind of backfired.
I have to admit, I didn't know anything about Dreamland, in that it was an actual real place. I looked it up halfway through the book and found its interesting history - including, SPOILERS, that it burnt down in May 1911. Umm, didn't the author scream at me on the first page that the book's events start in June 1911? What's going on? Is this like an alternative history book? I continued on.... only to find that the author honoured the history of Dreamland, sort of, but pushed the fire to the end of summer to fit with the sizzling summer vibe she wished to have as the background for the book. Then why is it being published in January?...
Well, okay, some historical inaccuracies may suffice, whatever. It's not a history book, I'll accept that. But then there were other errors I noticed, that simply should have been picked up. I don't know if the fact that I received the book as an ARC means these errors will be corrected, but if the editor reads this, please, please, please do correct them! I mean the fact that Peggy and her sister agreed she would knock three times at her door, and a few pages later, Peggy would go an knock twice, even stating "as we agreed". That's not what they agreed! Am I to think that Peggy was so distraught by the events going on that night that she just forgot how many times to knock? Well, okay, let's say that's what happened. But surely, she (or the author...) should remember if her 'altercation' with Henry was five or three years ago, which also seems to change in the book.
I guess this book just wasn't for me. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be, to start with. It wasn't a historical book as such. The author describes it as suspense, but I fell asleep reading it at least a dozen times. If it's a romance novel, it fails miserably. The love interests declare their love for each other the third time they ever see each other (even though Peggy admits to herself several times that she first went out with him as "a lark", and knowing how it would distress her family...), they make out in the rain, the girl goes through a lot of questionable business to ensure his safety, only for him to then up and leave - but it's okay, because Peggy states that she "would always through the years cling to this memory, of losing my first love, in some ways my purest expression of love, but not losing my dignity. Somehow, I found it, a reserve of strength within, and I did not beg Stefan to change his mind and stay with me. It would be wounding without purpose." -- is this not the man she broke all society's rules for, enraged her family for, risked her life for? The man who, because of her, people died for?! But I guess her dignity prevailed, so, yay.
It didn't work as a murder mystery either, as there just wasn't any mystery to it. If you've read even one murder mystery before, you know what's coming. But, when Stefan, an innocent man accused of the murders, muses over them, and how he blames himself for one of the victims' death (as said person was killed to put blame on him), our Peggy goes to say "I know. It is terrible." WTF!!!! The women were killed as a projection of hatred towards Peggy - but she just brushes that off and lets Stefan stew in his guilt? I'm sorry, but Peggy is just not a worthy person to be interested in. And that's the problem. The book centres around her, but she is incredibly annoying, entitled, and naive, and I just couldn't find a single redeeming quality to her character. She is supposed to be a modern, rebellious woman, yet time and again, she lets her family and society push her around, only to grow an adventurous bone when the plot requires it.
And so it didn't work as a coming of age story either, because Peggy doesn't seem to learn much through the book. Maybe it's her sister's coming of age story, as by the end of the book she decides to do something with her life, and the silence money she receives for her ordeals. Peggy, well, she muses about how her name would go on some buildings. So I guess she continues to buy her way through life, or something. I didn't really care by then as I saw the last few sentences were near.
And most importantly, the book doesn't work as a pro-globalisation, migration-friendly tale either. The love interest Stefan is an innocent man who went to America lured by all its promises of modernity, culture, progress. But then he is wrongfully accused of murder and of being an anarchist, he endures some police brutality, and decides by the end of the book, to hell with it all, America is just not as advertised, and he returns to his family in Serbia, in spite of the brewing war (did people know that in 1911? really?). So the lesson the author is trying to sell is that you should stay put in your homeland hell, because you are not welcome elsewhere either? That people of different nationalities are unwelcome, because the natives will never accept them, regardless of them being innocent? That an outsider cannot assimilate? Because, even though Stefan says that America's future may be more welcoming than its present (that is, the 1910s), we all know that's just really not true. Given the high-profile issues around migration nowadays, the messages conveyed by the book just seem insulting.

Sentences like the ones below also annoyed me greatly:
"Just a few steps up the path I spotted another variety of servant standing just off the path."
"There must be something extraordinary that they'd found in the sand to warrant summoning the police, but it couldn't be another corpse. My mind swiftly rejected that possibility." --- then, two pages later, upon being told it is the body of a dead woman indeed that was found: "Clearly this was the truth. I'd known it on some level when [...] I saw the people gather in a circle in the sand."
"Part of me felt that our meeting, our first kiss, was special. Magical. The death of that poor young woman so close by had darkened it - we needed to seek out the police, not only because it was the correct and moral thing to do but because it would free us of that taint. Allow something more to follow, I hoped."
"There was a selfish part of me churning with resentment over the fact that the place we'd kissed had become the site of a horrible death and therefore spoiled."

And one I fully agreed with:
"I threw down the brush and announced to the reflection in the mirror, "You are a terrible human being.""

I received an ARC of Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau via NetGalley. What follows is my fair and honest review.
Looking for a historical fiction mystery? Enjoy a star-crossed lovers romance? Interested in Coney Island, specifically, or amusement parks, more generally? Curious about what it was like to be Jewish in the United States during the early 1900s? Then you might love Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau. Or you might be a little disappointed, because Dreamland has all of these elements, but none of them work particularly well. Here’s my quick summary:

In 1911, Peggy Batternberg is forced to leave her job at a bookstore in order to spend the summer with her wealthy, but dysfunctional, family at the Oriental Hotel. With the hotel’s location next to Coney Island, the summer could be more enjoyable than Peggy originally anticipated. But spending time with her family reveals the increasingly strained nature of their bonds, and murdered women keep appearing wherever Peggy seems to be…

While I can’t say there was anything I particularly disliked about Dreamland, I thought it fell short of the many goals it seems to set itself. There’s the mystery element, which has some interesting red herrings, but is ultimately predictable. There’s a romance, but with stilted pacing and a lackluster resolution, it’s an unsatisfying relationship to read about. Peggy does visit Coney Island, but her visits lack the detail and description that would make this location compelling to read about. And while Peggy and her family are Jewish, the novel only briefly mentions the significance of this in a few places. In other words, this isn’t really a novel that explores the Jewish experience in turn-of-the-century America. So, as I said before, this novel does a lot, but I’m not sure it does anything particularly well.

Still, I was interested enough in the overall story to finish the novel. And if any of these elements is really your jam, maybe this book is a new favorite for you! So, I’d recommend this novel for fans of historical fiction and mysteries.

3 stars

I read Nancy Bilyeau’s The Blue last year and was really interested by the unique concept. So when I saw her new novel I jumped right on it.

Dreamland follows a young entirely sheltered heiress trying to find her way in the world in early 1900’s. The story is a little bit coming of age, a little bit romance and a little bit murder mystery. She is expected by her family and society to live her life a certain way and she is determined to find her own happiness. The story explores the social, political and moral aspects of the time.

One summer Peggy finds herself staying outside of Coney Island with her family and is exposed to a level of society that she has never been aware of. This awakening has her looking at everyone in her life a little differently and uncovering the dark underbelly of polite society.

This book reminded me a little of Lauren Willig’s The English Wife, a little of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (without all the crazy POV changes!) and a little of Boardwalk Empire.

Set in the Golden Era of the American rich in the early part of the twentieth century.
It is basically a murder mystery but it also describes how the rich and privileged played and looked down on those less fortunate than themselves.
It also describes women’s place in society and how they were used as marriage pawns to strengthen their families wealth.
I also found it very evocative of the writing of Scott Fitzgerald.
Just loved it can’t recommend it enough.

I absolutely adored this book!

It's set in 1911, the heyday of mega rich families, old fashioned hotels, drinks on the veranda, gentle dips in pools, and general carefree hedonistic excitement

Peggy Batternberg, heiress to the Batternberg fortune is summoned to the Oriental Hotel along with her family to try to push along her sister's engagement, and for the family to meet their prospective new inlaws. However, Peggy is a new woman and she can't resist venturing out to see the thrills of Coney Island Fair.THis i

After escaping on her own, Peggy finds herself at an art stand.....and also finds herself love.....and death....

This is an absolutely rip roaring ride through the era, and the life of the mega rich - and the very poor, and I absolutely could not get enough of this book!

My thanks to Netgalley and Endeavour Media/Endeavour Quill for the advance copy.

"I'm still composing my opinions, but I think it is a place that exerts a pull that these thousands of people cannot resist because it's the only way they can feel their emotions - through experience of the extreme fear, contempt, delight, and of course, lust.''

Margaret (Peggy) Batternberg is a young women from a privileged, powerful and wealthy New York family. It's 1911 and she benefits from, yet is restricted by her gender and class. When her younger sister, Lydia, is due to marry Henry Taul, she and her family are called to stay at the luxurious Oriental Hotel near Coney Island for the summer, so that reclusive Mrs Taul can meet the family. Peggy knew Henry before Lydia and dislikes him, but accepts the invitation to please her mother and Uncle David. It will mean an enforced summer with her family, including brother Lawrence and cousins Ben and Paul. She soon finds herself in the hottest summer imaginable, staying in America's playground, where the wealthy are kept separate from Coney Islanders highlighting the class divide.

Peggy seeks liberation, secretly visit enigmatic Dreamland (a wild Coney Island attraction), where she meets a man. Meanwhile young women are murdered and she finds herself unintentionally involved. Who is behind the gruesome murders and will Peggy be able to escape the control of the corrupt Batternberg men long enough to find out before she comes to harm?

Glamorous and claustrophobic, Dreamland paints a picture of wealthy, upper class American lives and leisure time in the beginning of the twentieth century. Bigotry and racism, founded in ignorance, were rifre, as was misogyny and double-standards. Patriarchal and controlling, male family members make decisions for the women in the family, which intelligent and feisty Peggy rails against, within acceptable boundaries. I enjoyed Peggy's character particularly, but feel the plot could have been tighter, the story shorter, in places. Extravagant and atmospheric,
Dreamland is a historic mystery full of suspense and obsessions.

This book was a quick historical fiction, focused around murder in Coney Island in the early 1900s, as well as class lines within society.

We follow heiress Peggy Batternberg as she travels to Coney Island with her family and her sisters fiancé and family. We can immediately see that Peggy is more of a black sheep as far as her family is concerned - she was working in a bookshop, which she loved (and didn’t need to be doing), and she quickly falls in love with the people of Coney Island and their livelihood. While the rest of her family has no interest in Coney Island or the lower class, Peggy is fascinated, and falls in love with an immigrant artist. Their love would be frowned upon, based on their different stations in life. As women start turning up dead, the police are quick to suspect people within Coney Island because of their lower station in life, and the wildness in which they live their lives. Peggy strives to uncover the truth to rescue her love, even if that means potentially hurting people around her family.

I really enjoyed the insights into how different classes are treated and how they think in the early 1900s. Peggy is a modern woman, unconcerned with where people come from or what they have in life, and more focused on the people they really are. I really enjoyed this about her! She was smart and spunky - different from the stuck up society members around her. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and I think that’s important in a main female character. She doesn’t just take what she’s given in life from her standing in society, but works for what she wants and fights for the underdog!

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but mainly for the characters within it. The murder aspect was fairly easy to figure out, and it seemed like it was wrapped up rather hastily, which I didn’t enjoy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Endeavour Media for this advanced copy. Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau releases January 16, 2020.

3🌿

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own .
Set on the New Jersey shore at the turn of the century, this thriller is a rollercoaster ride from the start. Peggy and Lydia, aristocratic sisters, are visiting the shore at the behest of Lydia's fiance, Henry. Summer is hot and the timing perfect for upcoming nuptials. Amid the waves and cries of children playing in the water, screams of another kind penetrate the very core of the upper class society and threaten to overwhelm the lower class workers in Dreamland. This is the thing of nightmares. Who is killing the young women of Dreamland? When Peggy steps outside her position she is in for a shock. The world is much more dangerous and exciting, especially for a naive privileged young woman.
This thriller is the talk of Instagram and I found it to be one wonderful tale of history and fiction. Well done! Great characters! Fast moving plot!

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read but I didn't love it. I knew who it was from the get go. One minute Peggy was smart and her own woman. The next she didn't know what an alibi was? While I have no doubt that the insanely rich lived the way they do, in this book it got really aggravating to read and didn't add to the story. I think I could have went with four stars if I hadn't pegged the murderer so quickly.

Captivating. Beautifully written love story under the gruesome murders of three women. No connection with the first murder but the second gets you thinking starts your mind wondering which one did it? The connection is there but who? As the story develops more conclusions can be made but still under a veil of mystery as to who really did commit the crimes the why starts to become apparent “Peggy” but reasons still unclear. I enjoyed every moment engrossed in this book

DREAMLAND marks a departure for Nancy Bilyeau from her previous bestselling historical thrillers. Instead of centering on England's Tudor and Georgian periods, DREAMLAND is set in America's tawdry playground of Coney Island during the height of the Gilded Age, and draws inspiration from the scandalous life of Peggy Guggenheim. DREAMLAND's plot also takes place over a more tightly compressed time period, which really ups the tension—it's a real pageturner. I frankly think this is Bilyeau's best novel to date, and am looking forward to appearing in conversation with her at DREAMLAND'S launch later this month in Astoria. Highly recommended!

3.25-I love the cover of this book and it’s what initially drew me in. This story follows Peggy Battenberg, who comes from a wealthy family although Peggy herself likes some of the simple things in life like working in a bookstore and she is drawn into a place called Coney Island while staying at a nearby fancy establishment called the Oriental Hotel. In Coney Island she falls instantly for a worker there and thereafter trouble ensues when women are found dead and Peggy must find out who has committed these crimes and what connections are there to her? Although this book kept me interested in reading, it was fairly predictable and I don’t tend to like insta-love in the stories I read.

Peggy Batternberg is a member of an extremely wealthy, New York-elite family - and the rest of her family wishes she would act like it. Forced to abandon her beloved job at Moonrise Bookstore to spend the summer with the rest of her family, along with her sister's fiance and his mother at the luxurious Oriental Hotel near Coney Island, Peggy readies herself for a long, dull summer maintaining boring and antiquated appearances that are expected of a young lady of her class.

However, she finds much more freedom - and danger - than expected even under her family's watchful eye when she visits Coney Island and meets Stefan, an artist of whom her family would certainly disapprove. But things take a rather sinister turn when women's bodies begin turning up near Dreamland. Peggy and Stefan may have witnessed something - and may also be suspects.

I loved the writing and Peggy's modern dreams in a time where women were very limited on what they could do, or even think (at least out loud.) The pacing felt a little slow at times but overall I still thought this suited the mystery of things.

Exquisite, enthralling,, evocative..
Beautifully written with a slightly aloof air. An insight into a privileged lifestyle that now is unimaginable.
Heiress to a fortune, Peggy rebels against her lifestyle but is bought back into the fold by threats. She holidays with her extended, complicated family and tastes love and temporary freedom at Coney island. A series of gruesome murders and revelations bring her resourcefulness to the surface.
Made me want to know more about this period of time and particularly Coney island.