The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow ~ Review

The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow
Avenue of Dreams #2
By Olivia Newport

Charlotte Farrow's world has just come crashing down around her as the world comes to Chicago and the Colombian Exposition.  The woman engaged to watch her son Henry has a family emergency and Henry has been left at the Banning's home.  But if Charlotte claims her son she will be dismissed.  What can she do it ensure the comfort and safety her son?

As Charlotte struggles with what to do about Henry, Sarah Cummings is assigned the task of watching the foundling.  But despite Sarah's claims of knowledge about babies, she knows next to nothing about how to care for Henry.

Archie Shepard knows that something is weighing down on Charlotte and that her attachment to the abandoned baby is somehow at the root of it.  But Charlotte refuses to confide in anyone out of fear that she could still lose her son.  When the Bannings decide that a distant cousin should adopt Henry, Charlotte knows that her time is running out.

An abandoned baby and a World's Fair aren't the only things troubling the city of Chicago - anarchists are stirring up the people.  The overworked, underpaid majority is slowly awakening to the fact that they are considered second-class citizens who are not permitted to marry or have a family!

But can Charlotte trust anyone with her secret and her heart.  Archie hopes to convince Charlotte that she can trust him and God with the secret that is pulling her down.  But can Archie prevent Charlotte from making a choice that she will forever regret?  When Charlotte's past catches up with her she is forced to make a decision that will affect more than one life, but is it the decision that God makes her to make?

The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow is a interesting look at 1893 Chicago and the injustices faced by those employed by the upper class.  Some of the issues faced by the servants of this time period were ones I had never heard about nor were they ever mentioned in any history book.

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Available January 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.