The Last Train to Key West
by Chanel Cleeton

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

The only things I’ve ever heard John say in addition to his name pertain to his order, as though God only gave him a certain number of words to use each day, and he’d already expended his quota before he sat in my section.

I envy men the freedom to choose their own spouses. They snap us up as though they are purchasing a piece of fruit at the market, and we are expected to have no say in the matter.

The running of this world is left to men, and quite frankly, I’m not impressed with what they’ve done with it.

It’s strange how your life can change so quickly, how one moment you can barely eke by, desperation filling your days, and suddenly, out of the unimaginably horrific, a glimmer of something beautiful can appear like a bud pushing through the hard-formed earth.

My Review:

I was relatively new to Chanel Cleeton when I started this series featuring a fascinating family of Cuban sisters and had generally avoided historical fiction prior to this as being a strong feminist, I bristle at the limitations placed on women and how poorly they were treated, even by their families. The Cuban sister featured in this installment was Mirta, who had been forced into marrying a man of questionable ethics and criminal ties and whom she did not personally know, to clear her father’s mistakes in judgment.   Meanwhile, the same situation had also occurred to a former New York socialite named Elizabeth. Both women crossed paths in Key West during Mirta’s honeymoon and were served by the same heavily pregnant waitress who, for me, had the most compelling storylines featured in this dynamic tale. The three women could not have been more diverse yet they were sharing an overlapping experience during the most challenging period in their lives.

All of this drama happened to occur during hurricane season, and it got a bit breezy when the worst storm ever hit the area.   The storylines were slowly and craftily constructed with a writing style that was stunningly emotive, compelling, and mesmerizingly immersive. I fell right into each woman’s anxious vortex and enjoyed their various journeys and travails as their lives briefly intersected.

I had no idea it wasn’t just women and minorities who were so devastatingly maltreated and was appalled by the shameful and horrific conduct and attitude of the US government toward the returning Veterans of WWI. I mean no slur to the brave souls currently serving but why anyone still bothers to join the military given their heinous history of atrocities boggles my tiny brain and scorches the little pea lying therein.