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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Vicky Oliver’s Firebrands takes place in 1908 Manhattan, where suffragist Helena James begins investigating Derrick Dupré, the wealthy fiancé of her younger sister Summer, after overhearing him discuss bomb construction shortly following an explosion in Union Square Park. Helena discovers that Derrick operates a labor spying business that puts undercover agents inside factories to suppress unions while maintaining close ties to police officials, industrialists, and private detectives. Her suspicions intensify after meeting Grace Tool, a burned factory worker forced into hiding after surviving a fire inside a silver factory. Determined to protect both Summer and vulnerable workers across New York City, Helena enters the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory undercover alongside activist Inez Milholland. While sewing beside exhausted immigrant workers under constant surveillance, Helena races to uncover what Derrick is concealing before another factory disaster traps workers behind locked exits.
Vicky Oliver’s Firebrands is a brilliant historical novel, loaded with period details that immerse readers in the haves and have-nots of Gilded Age Manhattan society. Helena drives the story, risking it all while investigating Derrick Dupré’s expanding surveillance network across New York society. I love Grace Tool, a burned silver factory worker hiding inside Helena James’s parents’ attic after public ridicule leaves her isolated from employment. Oliver Dupré is thoroughly diabolical, with his Pinkerton notebook and frightening possessiveness of Summer. The settings are visual, breathing life into 1908 New York. Readers who adore women’s history, labor activism, and stories set in early twentieth-century Manhattan will enjoy this book. Very highly recommended.
