A Fortune of Sand: A Novel
The daughter of a powerful tycoon escapes to a glamorous artists’ retreat—where dark secrets and dangerous temptations await—in this gripping Prohibition-era novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea.
“Enthralling . . . While history is often molded by those in power, there are always those who can wrest control and write a new story of their own.”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies
Detroit, 1927. A city of smoke and ambition, where glittering wealth conceals a graveyard of secrets.
Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a powerful Detroit dynasty—a family rich in money and poor in charm. Creative, reckless, and never quite what they wanted, Marjorie has spent her life overlooked by her controlling father and self-absorbed siblings. But when she secretly applies to an elite arts program backed by a mysterious patron, she grabs the chance to finally step out of her family’s shadow.
The building is grand.
The talent is extraordinary.
And something is deeply wrong.
The program is strict in ways that feel sinister. Doors lock at strange hours. Rumors spread about women going missing. And the handsome benefactor behind it all is as magnetic as he is unsettling. As Marjorie gets pulled deeper into his world, she must fight to discover the truth before she loses herself completely.
Set in the fading splendor of 1920s Detroit and inspired by real, long-buried events, A Fortune of Sand is a glittering, gothic page-turner about power, control, and the price women pay when they demand to be seen.
“Enthralling . . . While history is often molded by those in power, there are always those who can wrest control and write a new story of their own.”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies
Detroit, 1927. A city of smoke and ambition, where glittering wealth conceals a graveyard of secrets.
Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a powerful Detroit dynasty—a family rich in money and poor in charm. Creative, reckless, and never quite what they wanted, Marjorie has spent her life overlooked by her controlling father and self-absorbed siblings. But when she secretly applies to an elite arts program backed by a mysterious patron, she grabs the chance to finally step out of her family’s shadow.
The building is grand.
The talent is extraordinary.
And something is deeply wrong.
The program is strict in ways that feel sinister. Doors lock at strange hours. Rumors spread about women going missing. And the handsome benefactor behind it all is as magnetic as he is unsettling. As Marjorie gets pulled deeper into his world, she must fight to discover the truth before she loses herself completely.
Set in the fading splendor of 1920s Detroit and inspired by real, long-buried events, A Fortune of Sand is a glittering, gothic page-turner about power, control, and the price women pay when they demand to be seen.
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Community Reviews
I laughed, smiled, gasped, and admittedly became a “little” swept up in this one! Wow! Highly recommend. Audio is excellent.
Marjorie Lennox has “been selected to take part in an artistic residency, a residency created by” their wealthy and elusive neighbor, Mr. Bonafante himself. “She’ll be given fabric and whatever else she might need to create her designs. And she has complete independence. How shameful that she’s never locked a door or been responsible for meals. Her family has always relied on [servants] for such things. Her family has fortune and freedom, but they are not independent.” What sort of family are they? “A crooked one…And it’s hard to bend a crooked straight…Ruthless, competitive, and greedy, not to mention shallow,” their family business is windshields. “Glass. An entire fortune built on sand. There’s a deep irony there.”
“My family—it’s hard to explain…They manufacture provenance. Sometimes they tell stories just to draw people in or see what they can get away with. They play wicked games, especially when trying to compete with others…each contributing to a grand collection of moral larcenies.” Marjorie’s brother Graham and Gramps have a secret. Her sister Chet doesn’t know about their secret. Graham has a secret. No one knows his secret. Graham and Chet have a secret. No one knows about their secret. Graham and Chet are trying to keep Marjorie’s residency a secret. Their father is up to something with her sister Cecile and brother in law Lou.
“Danger, poison, parties, competition, the jewels she put in her bed finials. She doesn’t know what to think. Doesn’t know what’s real. How is she supposed to make sense of this?...What does one do when their family is a nest of secrets within a carnival of cons?...Watch quietly from afar. Hide your aces…Everyone has their secrets…Let’s keep all of ours a little longer.”
“Planting defective parts in the vehicles of rival suppliers to cause fatalities, grave-robbing for glass eyes…forcing accomplices to swallow stolen jewels for transport, creating fake Tiffany-glass lamps…impaling enemies with poison umbrellas. Goodness, the mind is also a tempest.” A toast of Pol Roger to Ruta Sepety’s A Fortune of Sand. “It’s a cocktail of finality with a sickly splash of dread.” Its pages are a passkey to adventure!
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