This was FANTASTIC!! Thank you thank you to my sister who loaned this to me months ago. It was lost in my moving houses, and I just uncovered it a few weeks ago. I read the whole thing in 3 days. FASCINATING and gripping and original and totally fast-paced novel. I am totally amused at what absolute snobs the main characters are, too. Paints a wonderfully full picture of New York at the turn of the century. You see the class, ethnic and gender divides and the power struggles. Having Theodore Roosevelt as a character is very interesting too. i didn't really know much about him beyond roughriders, and him taking over after McKinley was assassinated. Fun to "learn" about his life before that.