Review: It's Basil Fitzpatrick's Turn
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2013
Third in Becky Lower's Cotillion Ball Series, Banking on Temperance is the story of Basil Fitzpatrick and Temperance Jones. Basil is running his family's bank in St. Louis when Temperance's family straggles into town. They are headed to Oregon, to save her brothers from the possibility they will have to fight in the Civil War everyone sees coming soon. The head of the Jones family, a preacher named Samuel has been sick and the Jones family have missed the last wagon train leaving St. Louis for the season. Stuck in St. Louis until the following year, they come to rely on Basil and his sister (who was the heroine of Book #1) and her husband for help. Basil isn't looking for a wife. Temperance is looking to leave St. Louis and has to figure out how to do it by herself.What I like the most about Lower's books (I've read all three) is her subtle use of American history to give authenticity to her stories. She puts the reader firmly in the setting without hitting us over the head with what her research. She captures the essence of an important time in our history through the lens of two people trying to find their way to a happy ending even as the country moves inevitably to war. Good story, well-written.