From the Bookshelf of Mostly Sapphic…

Galveston 1900: Swept Away

Linda Crist

Start date: January 7, 2017

Finish date: January 31, 2017

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What Members Thought

Dec 11, 2012 Pin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: tone_sweet-love-story, narrative_slow-paced, 5-stars, theme_toaster-oven, favorites-of-all-time, info_read-online-and-published, dynamics_butch-femme, genre_historical, theme_disaster, theme_slow-burn

This book is rich in every possible way - characters, plot, emotions, historical facts, ending... It deserves to be read many times over and over. Highly recommended.

26 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2018 Ted rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: violence-against-women

Fantastic historical lesfic. Rough in spots, Adam... bleh... Overall was great. Rachel and Mattie are awesome. Angel and Betsy were superstars. Of course Billy and Lily, ugh yea there's a bunch of really cool secondaries in this. After reading her The Bluest Eyes in Texas series it was cool to find more of her work. She seems to have slowed down since the early/mid 2000's. ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2017 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Really nice historical fiction. I liked the characters and the story. It wasn't overly exciting but enjoyable.
It was quite slow in spots. I found myself skipping some dialogue just to get moving on.
I would give 3.5 stars but rounded up because it's so hard to find good historical fiction in this genre. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 31, 2016 Vic rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lesfic, historical

A pretty thorough, entertaining read. Though not as powerful as maybe it could have been.

The setting was certainly portrayed effectively, and every character was well-imagined, perfect for their role, and likeable, or dislikeable, to suit the needs of the author. This slow, often slightly meandering tale pulled me in to their world, but perhaps didn't fully immerse me. I feel a few scenes were a bit superfluous, while others didn't quite hold enough impact. But on the whole, I felt like I'd rea ...more

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Aug 04, 2016 Kennedy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What a gripping story of friendship, caring, compassion, resiliency and unrelenting love. This is also a story of loss, devastation and abuse. Madeline Crockett, what a beautifully written character you want to cheer for and care about. Rachel Travis, knows who she is and understands her fate in life. Rachel is fortunate to have found some sense of self and satisfaction with Lillie. I was "swept away" with the wonderfully written progressive friendship between Madeline and Rachel. This story pro ...more

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Dec 09, 2013 Terry Baker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Rachel Travis has always known she’s different from other girls. She dresses like a man and is a dockworker at Galveston dockyard. In the evenings, she moonlights as a bartender. Rather than enter a convent or marry, she ran away from her home at fifteen. Rachel knows she is unlikely to have female company other than the prostitute, Lillie who had become her friend and she regularly visits.

Mattie Crockett was married at fourteen to her violent, physically and mentally abusive husband, Adam. Ot Rachel Travis has always known she’s different from other girls. She dresses like a man and is a dockworker at Galveston dockyard. In the evenings, she moonlights as a bartender. Rather than enter a convent or marry, she ran away from her home at fifteen. Rachel knows she is unlikely to have female company other than the prostitute, Lillie who had become her friend and she regularly visits.

Mattie Crockett was married at fourteen to her violent, physically and mentally abusive husband, Adam. Other than working at a tailor shop, she is not allowed out anywhere alone. The only time Mattie gets any respite from the constant verbal abuse and beatings, is when Adam has business to attend to in Houston. Which, fortunately for her, is quite often. There was nothing Mattie enjoyed more than walking along the beach in Adam’s absence. It was during one of these beach visits that Mattie and Rachel first met. They struck up an unlikely friendship. Both women were lonely and starved for company.

It’s not long before Rachel realizes she feels more for Mattie than just friendship. She can never allow herself to dare to hope that Mattie will feel the same. After all, she’s married to Adam, albeit unhappily, so she can’t like women that way, can she?

I first read this story online many years ago. Twice, in fact. I loved the story, but the book, by then, had gone out of print. I am so pleased to see it has now been re-published.

This is a beautifully written historical romance novel. Linda Crist has obviously done extensive research. The scenic descriptions of Galveston and the flood along with the characters, made me feel as though I was actually living the story with the people of Galveston. I could almost smell and taste the great storm.

Each and every character is fully formed and multi-faceted. The story is intricately woven with historical facts and fictional romance. It is a fast paced page turner from beginning to end. It’s multi layered in a colorful way with a depth to it that goes beyond any of the regular historical romance books.

The story of Mattie and the awful abuse she suffered at the hands of her despicable tyrant of a husband, was all too common for those times. Men ruled, women were subservient. Having said this, not every man was like Adam, but they existed and women were definitely the weaker downtrodden sex most of the time.

The love between Rachel and Mattie is a joy to read about. That Mattie should find love and peace is wonderful. But, will she be able to stay safe and away from Adam? Will Rachel get her wish for Mattie to be hers? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

This is without a doubt an epic novel of love, abuse, despair, hard work, intolerance, disaster and above all, hope.

I am hoping that Affinity will release Linda Crist’s other earlier novels too. She is a terrific author and creates wonderful characters in nice scenic settings. It goes without saying that I will definitely read this book again.

...more

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Nov 30, 2016 Ulla rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: before-2011

I read the online version a long time ago and still remember how much I liked it!

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2021 Katia M. Davis rated it liked it

I love a good disaster novel, especially if it is lesfic. I'm thinking K G MacGregor Without Warning or Jae Shaken to the Core. When I read the blurb on the back of this book I was excited - a nice chunky lesfic novel set smack bang in the middle of an horrific disaster. Unfortunately, it took 300 pages to get to the disaster. The novel starts several months before the disaster. We are introduced to Rachel (a tomboy working the docks and at a bar), and Mattie (a young woman in an abusive marriag I love a good disaster novel, especially if it is lesfic. I'm thinking K G MacGregor Without Warning or Jae Shaken to the Core. When I read the blurb on the back of this book I was excited - a nice chunky lesfic novel set smack bang in the middle of an horrific disaster. Unfortunately, it took 300 pages to get to the disaster. The novel starts several months before the disaster. We are introduced to Rachel (a tomboy working the docks and at a bar), and Mattie (a young woman in an abusive marriage who has never been able to make her own choices in life). We also come to know a variety of supporting characters.

I appreciate we need to understand what 'normal life' is like for the characters before the 'terrible thing' happens, but this was pretty much three quarters of the book. I won't say the first 300 pages were boring, but things did seem drawn out and I was itching to get to the disaster promised. I think the author must have felt the same because there was a 3 week time jump 15 odd pages before the storm struck. I feel things could have been somewhat condensed. For instance, the whole bit about Federal marshals turning up on Mattie's doorstep wasn't really needed since they fizzled out to nothing aside from a few mentions of 'it won't be long before the marshals come back now'. They didn't add anything much to the story overall. Mattie could have become more suspicious about Adam's business dealings based on the paperwork she found in a locked drawer earlier. The Marshall weren't really needed.

I came across a few typos and some continuity errors like Rachel still having a knife in her boot even though earlier she lost her boots when thrown overboard. I suppose she might not have had the knife in her boot then, but we were told earlier she always carries it on her. Or later, a mention of their money being stashed in carpetbags under the bed when we were told earlier Rachel and Maddie had taken the money out of them to carry with them when they tried to flee over the bridge to the mainland. We never see it go back in the bags and based on the circumstances there wasn't much of an opportunity.

There was also some head hopping. For instance, we'd be in Rachel's head and all of a sudden we'd have Billy's thoughts; or in Mattie's head and Adam's POV would come through. As a reader, it's a little disconcerting and it pulls you from the story.

For me, this was an OK read overall, but I was not as enthralled with it as I thought I was going to be. It could have done with another once over and some tightening up. I enjoyed the last 150 pages the most when we got into the actual storm and the struggle for survival.

If you don't mind a slow build up, enjoy tentative starts to relationships with a fair bit of innocence thrown in, you will probably enjoy.

Things to be aware of - this novel does contain scenes of a physically and psychologically abusive relationship between a man and a woman. There is also a rape in marriage scene (doesn't go into detail), and several discussions of nonconsensual sex. ...more

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May 25, 2011 Cheri rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq, romance, reread, historical-fiction

Linda Crist joined Andy and me on episode 19 of Cocktail Hour to discuss this book. We had a great time talking with her about the story and about the history behind it.
...more

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