The Nature of Fragile Things

"Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is beautiful. While Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, his odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women: The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved. When a massive earthquake rocks San Francisco on April 18, 1906, the resiliency and resolve of the three women will be tested"--Adapted from back cover