Member Review

This is a prequel to the Emma Harte Saga series which is a renowned series following the life of Emma Harte, a maidservant who builds a global department store empire, starting with the classic “A Woman of Substance”(1979). “A Man of Honor” opens five years before the first book introducing readers to Blackie O’Neill’s story. In North Kerry, Ireland 1899 Shane Patrick Desmond O’Neill is a 13-year-old boy everyone calls Blackie because of his dark hair and eyes. Living in a poor rural county took its toll on his family as he had already lost his brother Niall and parents only to be left an orphan when his sister, Bronagh dies. Father O’Donovan’s housekeeper, Mrs. O’Malley takes care of him until he eventually makes his way to England to live with his uncle in Leeds. His mother’s brother, Patrick offers to become Blackie’s guardian and train him in carpentry to work with him in his building business. Blackie is an extremely ambitious and determined young boy with big aspirations. There are many characters and side stories which didn’t seem to tie into Blackie’s story especially the situation with Lord Lassiter. I can only guess that these characters eventually appear in the other novels. Blackie is sent to do repairs in a house high on the Yorkshire moors when he becomes disoriented and loses his way until he encounters a kitchen maid. Blackie and Emma Harte soon learn that they both have similar goals in life and will stop at nothing to make their rags to riches tale come true.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and St Martin’s Press. This review is my voluntary unbiased opinion.