The Daughters of Jim Farrell ~ Sylvia Bambola

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Heritage Publishing House (July 1, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0989970787
• ISBN-13: 978-0989970785

Purchase a copy here.

Pennsylvania 1873: When, in the harsh world of Pennsylvania coal country, Jim Farrell is hanged for murder, his wife and three daughters must turn their beautiful home into a boarding house in order to survive. But struggling beneath the shadow of shame becomes too much for eldest daughter, Kate. She resolves to clear her father’s name in spite of her mother’s admonition to “let it go,” and convinces her sisters to help. All too soon their dangerous quest rips the family apart. Will it also cost them the men they love?

My take on this book:

The Daughters of Jim Farrell takes readers  to the tiny town of Sweet Air, PA during the spring of 1873. We meet the Farrell family who were once a prominent family in good social standing in the town, but reduced to turning their stately home into a boarding house in order to survive when Jim Farrell was hanged for murder!  Thing is his oldest daughter Kate decides she is going to hire a Pinkerton agent to prove her fathers innocence and talks her two younger sisters Virginia and Charlotte into contributing to the cause. Just what will they uncover when the investigation begins? 

The Daughters of Jim Farrell was a page turning mystery that was really so much more. The author paints an amazing portrait of the coal camps that existed during that time, while also including the miners and their families. The Farrell sisters were as different as day and night. Kate was stubborn and wanted answers, Virginia was interested in starting her own newspaper and Charlotte just wanted to marry her boyfriend, a man from a prominent family in town. Each sister finds love in their own way and while I enjoyed the story with each sister and the man that fate seemed to entwine them with it had to be the story between Patrick and Virginia that really touched a chord in me. I found myself cheering this couple on,I could just imagine this gentle giant of a man, and the way that he felt for Virginia.  and my heart truly broke at the end of their story, I even shed a few tears. I will admit the author left me with high hopes for Virginia and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we might get another story revolving around these sisters!