I had a very hard time giving this a star review! I think 3.5, and not just a three. I don't often have this problem, but to me this was different at the beginning than it was at the end.
This book in the beginning took place in 1900 and was really a story told about August Sitwell, who worked for the "rich" Barclay's. Mr. Sitwell, is a freeman, but doesn't get paid well. While I didn't enjoy the circumstances surrounding the treatment of the Barclay's staff, and the despicable character of the Barclay's, the story, or what I thought the story to be about was interesting. The "rib sauce", whos recipe it was, who benefited, etc. was so interesting! The second part of the book was about another staff, after her employ with the Barclay's years later. This part of the story seemed to diverge to more union activities. Again, similar threads on racial and societal injustices prevailed, but I wasn't as engaged in this part of the story as the first part where it seemed to me more character driven.
Perhaps it was the length of the book at this point, as I was looking forward to it ending as I'd had enough at this point in continuing with a book that I thought had diverged into another book altogether. I did enjoy the writing, and would read something else by this author if they did more work on switching up the style of the writing so it was the same throughout. I noted some reviewers enjoyed the second part of the book rather than the first.
I received this book as a BookishFirst giveway. Thank you!