Last June, Entertainment Weekly reviewed (subscription may be required) a book called Triangle, by Katharine Weber, which caught my eye. Here’s a the review:
Triangle, Katharine Weber’s crackerjack historical mystery, may be the most effective 9/11 novel yet written — and it isn’t even about 9/11. The attack on the Twin Towers brings out the grandiose in artists; Weber has found a way around that.
At 106, Esther Gottesfeld is the last living survivor of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, when nearly 150 garment workers, mostly immigrant women, perished. Some, including Esther’s sister Pauline, jumped to their deaths. Esther escaped by fleeing to the roof, and she’s told her story countless times — in court that year, and more recently in interviews with busybody feminist professor Ruth Zion, who is convinced she’s hiding something.
Perhaps, but when Esther dies Ruth hounds Esther’s granddaughter Rebecca and Rebecca’s longtime lover, George, a brilliant avant-garde composer. (The descriptions of George’s music, which mimics patterns in nature, are a stand-alone treat.) Weber gradually peels away the layers — genetic, sexual, financial — of Esther’s secret, and she has a terrific time with her characters: Esther is a crabby, canny crone, and Ruth, a hilariously self-absorbed nudge. There’s also a running joke about dry poppyseed cake.
Weber drops all drollery in the transcendent finale, a dream sequence that places us right on the ledge of a burning building, with ordinary people about to leap. The passage is so human in its particulars, yet so universal in its horror, it ceases to matter which New York catastrophe she’s describing. Grade: A-
I am not usually a big fan of historical fiction, but I do like to read about the turn of the century, especially when the setting is New York during the Industrial Revolution.
Conversations with Famous Writers (one of my favorite blogs) has a great interview with Katharine Weber about Triangle, which you can read here.
USA Today gave the book a positive review, saying, “But however contrived the characters may seem at times, Weber’s intellectually and emotionally engaged writing ensures we care about them. Triangle’s structure enhances our empathy and adds suspense, incorporating Esther’s testimony and interviews, amusing magazine profiles of George and a moving passage that evokes his music and Esther’s spirit. At its sharpest, Triangle affirms the often tricky relationship between fact and fiction and the subjectivity of all human experience.”
You can also read more about the book on Weber’s website – – here is the link for the page on Triangle.