Note: I was provided with an advance reader’s copy of Carnegie’s Maid in exchange for an honest review.
When it comes to book topics, I love them all, but I have to admit, I have a few week points.
One of them? Books involving Pittsburgh or my alama mater, Carnegie Mellon.
Carnegie’s Maid hits on both of those. Kind of.
Carnegie’s Maid is about Clara, an Irish immigrant hired to work in one of Pittsburgh’s greatest households (Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie part of Carnegie Mellon). Except, they think she’s a different Clara Kelley with experience as a maid. If she can keep up the ruse, she may be able to earn enough money to send back home.
“Serving as a lady’s maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills she doesn’t have, answering to an icy mistress who rules her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara does have is a resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for, coupled with an uncanny understanding of business, and Andrew begins to rely on her. But Clara can’t let her guard down, not even when Andrew becomes something more than an employer. Revealing her past might ruin her future—and her family’s.”
I loved getting to see Clara experience Pittsburgh in the late 1800’s and hear about the Carnegie you never really hear about. It was also empowering to see Clara take control of her life and business ideas even though she felt like everything was crumbling around her.
I think that this reviewer also helped to sum up one of the other things I loved about this book:
“Feels like Downton Abbey in the United States…Benedict demonstrates the relevance of history to the present day in this impeccably researched novel of the early immigrant experience. Deeply human, and brimming with complex, vulnerable
characters, Carnegie’s Maid shows the power of ambition tempered by altruism, and the true realization of the American Dream.”
-Erika Robuck, national bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl
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