Review of House of Gold

More About House of Gold

The start of a marriage. The end of a dynasty.

It's 1911 and Greta Goldbaum is forced to move from glittering Vienna to damp England to wed Albert, a distant cousin. The Goldbaum family are one of the wealthiest in the world, with palaces across Europe, but as Jews and perpetual outsiders they know that strength lies in family. At first defiant and lonely, slowly Greta softens toward Albert, and as the wild paths and untamed beauty of Greta's new English garden begin to take shape, so too does their love begin to blossom. But World War I looms and even the influential Goldbaums cannot alter its course. For the first time in two hundred years, the family will find itself on opposing sides, and Greta will have to choose: the family she's created, or the one she left behind.

More About Natasha Solomons

A screenwriter and novelist, Natasha Solomons lives in Dorset, England, with her husband and young son. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The House at Tyneford, The Gallery of Vanished Husbands, and The Song of Hartgrove Hall.

Thoughts About House of Gold

I don't often cry while reading. I did with House of Gold. After all, it's wartime and several characters are in the position to go into battle. I knew someone would have to dies, it was only a matter of who.

But that was the Goldbaum men, the decision makers for a family that is outrageously rich and stretches to several branches in countries throughout Europe. This book is really about the women who at first glance seem to have no power, no control over even their own lives. But through this book you see their life and intelligence behind the scenes and how they influence the lives of their family and beyond. It's amazing to think that families like this once existed (and still do?). This novel takes them from the height of ostentatious lifestyles to being reduced to mere survival. Every detail of the huge houses, fancy parties and pampered lives is recorded to make you feel as if you are immersed in a world that seems so unreal.

My only complaint is that although the wealthy characters are vividly portrayed, characters like Karl the Kanalrat seem less developed. True, he was just a minor character but I felt something lacking. But not enough not to recommend reading this novel.

A Little Extra

Natasha has TWO novels being released this fall.

On October 21: I Am Cleopatra

A powerful retelling of the life of one of the most beguiling and misrepresented female figures in history, Cleopatra.

The favored daughter of the Pharaoh, Egyptian Princess Cleopatra spent her childhood hiding amid the scrolls in the great library of Alexandria, dreaming of one day writing her own story.

When her father dies, naming both Cleopatra and her selfish brother Ptolemy as his successors to the throne, danger arises. While the young Queen sails the Nile to greet her people, her brother plots to eliminate her and rule the empire alone.

But while Ptolemy has the power of the kingdom behind him, Cleopatra has her cunning wits. When the great Caesar arrives from Rome, she realizes he could be the key to her salvation—though courting this powerful man could cost her everything.

Can Cleopatra save her life, her throne, and her beloved Egypt and finally write her own history?

Told from the dueling perspectives of Cleopatra and Caesar’s mistress Servilia, I Am Cleopatra is a powerful, addictively readable reimagining of the alluring queen’s life. A modern retelling that goes beyond previous caricatures, I Am Cleopatra is a fascinating portrait of the flesh-and blood-woman behind the great legend. Natasha Solomons’ spellbinding story of female power and fragility, love and loss, fierce friendship and terrible betrayal introduces at last the real Cleopatra in all her glory and vulnerability.

Then on November 25: As Many Souls as Stars.

An inventive and romantic speculative novel about two women—a witch and an immortal demon—who make a Faustian bargain and are drawn into a cat-and-mouse chase across multiple lifetimes.  Ambitious, gothic, and magical, As Many Souls as Stars is about the lengths we go to protect ourselves, our legacy, and those we love.

1592. Cybil Harding is a First Daughter. Cursed to bring disaster to those around her, she is trapped in a house with a mother paralyzed by grief and a father willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of magic.

Miriam Richter is a creature of shadow. Forged by the dark arts many years ago, she is doomed to exist for eternity and destined to be alone—killing mortals and consuming their souls for sustenance. Everything changes when she meets Cybil, whose soul shines with a light so bright, she must claim it for herself. She offers a bargain: she will grant Cybil reincarnation in exchange for her soul.

Thus begins a dance across centuries as Miriam seeks Cybil in every lifetime to claim her prize. Cybil isn’t inclined to play by the rules, but when it becomes clear that Miriam holds the key to breaking her family curse, Cybil finds that—for the first time in her many lives—she might have the upper hand. As they circle each other, drawn together inescapably as light and dark, the bond forged between them grows stronger. In their battle for dominance, only one of them can win—but perhaps they can’t survive without each other.