Synopsis

As Black Tuesday triggers financial despondency, three young couples in New York City must trade their lives of luxury for poverty, tragedy, and setbacks.
When Jonathan Garrett’s brokerage firm collapses on the day of the Stock Market Crash, he unites with his closest friends (and former business partners), Aryl and Caleb, to relocate, track down a low-paying job, and cultivate a new life.
As the three men toil in their laborious jobs, their wives, Ava, Arianna, and Claire, slowly adapt to life in a shabby, rundown apartment, learning to sew, cook, and clean. With the help of their former, outspoken, Irish maid, Maura, and a new, equally Irish friend, Shannon, the wives become even closer than before.
The couples’ rocky path leads to more turmoil, however, when a business rival, Victor Drayton, creates one disaster after another. From petty tricks to outright violence, Victor’s nefarious mind will stop at nothing to beat down Jonathan’s last glimmer of hope.
Despite everything, Jonathan and his friends are fixated on surviving.
Emotional and financial destruction nip at their heels, until finally, with a lucky twist of fate, they escape city life and begin anew in their hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts. 

My thoughts

1929 chronicles the lives of three couples devastated by the 1929 Wall Street Crash, as they move from elaborate mansions, to seedy tenements and eventually back to their home town as they try and rebuild their lives and fortunes.

M.L. Gardner as created a wonderful set of well defined characters, especially the main 6, there is rivalry between the friends, an old flame of the married hero and a villain from the past who is determined to destroy our main storyteller.

This was so well written that I really did not want to put it down and when I reached the end, I was really moved by the story because I really believed in the  characters and the situation.

The desperation of the era is well documented in this book, from the holes in the windows to the scarcity of food. The great depression was a truly devastating time for thousands of people and this comes across really well in this book.

If you like historical fiction then you will like 1929, and I will be getting the next one in the series soon.

I gave this 4 out 5* on Goodreads