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The Breakers
Violet Van Waters and her sister, Sadie, are stunned by the opulence of The Breakers, the Vanderbilt mansion in fashionable Newport where they’ve been invited for a two-week house party. The mansion is filled with wealthy young people, including Charlie Tremblay, who’s there to forget his troubles in a bottle of gin. Violet struggles to keep her wayward sister in line and escape reminders of their parents—difficult to do with three séances on the agenda.
Chapter One
The Breakers Newport, Rhode Island May 1916 Violet pushed back two layers of curtains to peer out the window. Streaks of sunlight filtered t…
Chapter One, part two
Violet sat on the bed, eyes closed. When had she become such a chicken? She’d been outgoing enough with school friends, both at Emma Willard…
Chapter One, part three
Silence at last. Charlie’s head was spinning, but whether it was from the crowd or the gin, he couldn’t tell. Nor did it matter since he was…
Chapter Two, part one
Sadie was asleep, head burrowed under her pillow, when Violet woke the next morning. Not wanting to wake her sister with the noise of doing…
Chapter Two, part two
“What do you suppose a medium does?” Violet asked Sadie as they strolled along the cliff walk shortly after luncheon. To their left, the sea…
Chapter Two, part three
Twelve years earlier New York City A boom—loud enough to rattle the windows—jolted nine-year-old Violet awake. She pulled her head under the…
Chapter Two, part four
When Violet hauled Sadie into the breakfast room at two o’clock, the rude and handsome young man was already seated at the table, back to th…
Chapter Three
Even from the simple word “yes,” Charlie knew it was the girl with the velvet voice seated across the table from him. She was next to Earl.…
Chapter Four, part one
The next morning, Violet stood at the carport, waving the others off. They were going yachting, and she was looking forward to a day of work…
Chapter Four, part two
Charlie lowered his clarinet. “Is someone there?” “Yes.” It was velvet voice. Violet. Her footsteps sounded on the tile floor as she took a…
Chapter Five, part one
Before Violet came down to breakfast the next day, she pulled the Emma Willard application from her composition book and arrayed it on the v…
Chapter Five, part two
September 1914, two years earlier New York City Mother was trying on hats. She set first one, then another, on her artfully upswept hair, ru…
Chapter Six, part one
Violet was taking tea with the other ladies in the drawing room when Earl Tibbens walked in. “We’re on,” he said with a broad wink at Flora.…
Chapter Six, part two
Violet sat beside Sadie in the rear of Floyd’s car as they zipped past gated entrances and budding rose bushes on the way to the Newport Yac…
Chapter Seven, part one
When Charlie reached the carport, silence echoed off the walls of the house. The hubbub was already gone, off to the yacht club. He stood in…
Chapter Seven, part two
That night, the Breakers’ dining room smelled of bisque and fried onions. Charlie spent most of the meal listening for Violet’s voice, thoug…
Chapter Eight, part one
Violet hung behind Earl, fiddling with her belt. Charlie didn’t seem to be enjoying his palm reading. She closed her eyes and imagined how i…
Chapter Eight, part two
That afternoon, most of the group headed back to the golf course. There was a huge hullaballoo before they left as the fellows raced to chan…
Chapter Nine
Dinner concluded with an enormous strawberry sponge cake, dotted all around with tiny wild berries. As she sipped her wine, Violet snuck a l…
Chapter Ten
The next morning was Tuesday, the day of the second séance. Violet begged off a group picnic to the lighthouse and tennis club in favor of t…
Chapter Eleven, part one
Violet redid her hair before the séance, feeling like a knight donning armor before battle. Her stomach was in a state of nervous upheaval,…
Chapter Eleven, part two
Charlie stood on the threshold of the lower-floor loggia, his heart pounding. He’d overheard Sadie’s whisper about his never going out, and…
Chapter Twelve, part one
The stately tennis club at the Newport Casino was just up Bellevue Avenue from the Breakers. It was a long, gabled, green-shuttered building…
Chapter Twelve, part two
Back at the Breakers, Earl disappeared into the billiards room. Violet, whose head really was throbbing, tiptoed through the library, the lo…
Chapter Thirteen, part one
An hour later, Charlie sat at dinner, thinking of walking arm-in-arm with Violet. When her arm snugged around his, the side of his body lean…
Chapter Thirteen, part two
The next morning at breakfast, Violet sat ramrod straight, waiting for Sadie to appear at the doorway. She hadn’t wanted to wake her, but sh…
Chapter Fourteen, part one
Violet found Alva seated in a circle of ladies under a broad shade tree. To one side was the shore and the dainty Chinese Tea House, to the…
Chapter Fourteen, part two
It was a glorious June day, the kind that inspires birds to bravura performances. Violet changed into her white cotton waist and skirt, brai…
Chapter Fifteen, part one
Incredible. Charlie pressed his thumb gently against hers. He stopped thinking any thoughts at all and just sat, letting the precious meltin…
Chapter Fifteen, part two
The next morning, Charlie stood at the door of the breakfast room. It was silent within until a voice said, “Good morning, Mister Tremblay.”…
Chapter Sixteen, part one
Alva’s home of Belcourt was a parade of beautiful hats that morning, and Violet immediately regretted her modest choice, a black sailor-brim…
Chapter Sixteen, part two
When Violet swept into the dining room just as luncheon, Charlie immediately sensed her presence. As she passed behind him, he smelled the w…
Chapter Seventeen, part one
Charlie dressed for dinner with unusual care. Jacob appeared to help him shave, and Charlie asked about the state of his shoes, whether his…
Chapter Seventeen, part two
Violet sat on her bed, restless. The dancing had been as sweet as thick wine, and she was still lilting forward and back, her heart foxtrott…
Chapter Eighteen
Most of the guests slept late the next morning, but not Charlie. He was up with the birds, circumnavigating the house with his new stick. He…
Chapter Nineteen
Charlie wasn’t hungry for supper, but he put a good dent into the Vouvray that was served with the medallions of kingfish. And into the Bord…
Chapter Twenty, part one
Smith College Spring, 1915 Violet stared at a photo of a caryatid, one of the solemn female sculptures whose heads once supported the Temple…
Chapter Twenty, part two
Henry looked over at Violet before answering. “The yacht club is nearby.” “Yes,” Sadie answered. “The yacht club. Can you take us there?” Vi…
Chapter Twenty-one, part one
Violet watched from her window as a strange car drove up with a chauffeur who greeted Charlie as “Mister Charles.” Charlie’s bag went into t…
Chapter Twenty-one, part two
The morning of June fifth, Violet woke up and had two successive thoughts: the vote is today, and Charlie is gone. Sadie was still sleeping,…
Chapter Twenty-two, part one
Sadie was quiet through dinner that night, and she slept late the following morning. Floyd hadn’t shown his face since that horrific scene a…
Chapter Twenty-two, part two
If it hadn’t been for Sadie, Violet wouldn’t have gone to the party at the yacht club. She didn’t feel much like dancing, or toasting the en…
Chapter Twenty-three, part one
The temperature inside the yacht club had to be ten degrees higher than outside it, Charlie thought. Surely that was the cause of the heat i…
Chapter Twenty-three, part two
Charlie stood against the wall of the yacht club’s main room, trying to figure out what had just happened. There had been a terrific crash,…
Chapter Twenty-four
Violet didn’t take a full breath for at least two hours after Sadie and Charlie came out of the water. Every time she closed her eyes, those…