The Pursuit of Lucy Banning: A Novel (Avenue of Dreams, #1)

by Olivia Newport

Lucy Banning may live on the exclusive Prairie Avenue among Chicago's rich and famous, but her heart lies elsewhere. Expected to marry an up-and-coming banker from a respected family, Lucy fears she will be forced to abandon her charity work--and the classes she is secretly taking at the newly opened University of Chicago. When she meets an unconventional young architect who is working on plans for the upcoming 1893 World's Fair, Lucy imagines a life lived on her own terms. Can she break away from her family's expectations? And will she ever be loved for who she truly is?

Readers will love being swept away into a world of mansions, secrets, and romance as they follow Lucy through the streets of the Windy City during one of the most exciting times in the city's history. From opulent upper-class homes to the well-worn rooms of an orphanage, Olivia Newport breathes life and romance into the pages of history--and everyone is invited.

• ISBN10: 0800720385
• ISBN13: 9780800720384
• Publish Date: 1 May 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Imprint: Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 296
• Language: English

Reviews

[cherryblossommj]

Coming across a new author is always a little intimidating because the adventure of a read may really go either way. Reviews out there are almost all favorable and this Christian Historical Fiction reader agrees with all the positive! Olivia Newport transports readers into a fast paced, but enjoyable read in an area and time not often covered. This book will be enjoyed by Downton Abbey fans as well as many others. Step your feet in to enjoy the world of both the Chicago aristocracy as well as the maids and others downstairs.

The title is The Pursuit of Lucy Banning, however, Lucy is not the only story you will find. Enter in and follow Lucy, Charlotte, Will and Daniel as well as get to know the Banning family through out these short and few pages and be entertained in a glamorous and real world. There are orphans in need and espionage to be had. Watch a bit of a feminist as well as social movement unfold while entertaining the hustle and bustle of a historic event in the background.

Olivia Newport is a new to this reader author and this first novel into the Avenue of Dreams is not the last be added to the shelf for the Creative Madness Mama. Continuing and understanding of the social classes was enjoyable and interesting. The romantic heart wants to scream leave them all and run away for love! Yet the practical is curious how anything could possibly work out in the end. Olivia did an impressive and engaging job keeping all the characters alive and coming off the page again and again. So much to wonder and guess what may be.

From a female college student, to an orphanage of children with parents still living, to dealing with a disease of the mind this author provides pages of distraction that get in your heart and make you keep going. Looking forward to continuing Charlotte’s story in 2013.

*Thank to Revell Books for providing a copy for review.*

posted: www.ChristianHistoricalFiction.com

http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2012/05/19/the-pursuit-of-lucy-banning-by-olivia-newport/

and here: http://www.examiner.com/review/the-pursuit-of-lucy-banning-by-olivia-newport-1892-chicago