Catherine Wainwright is an accomplished pianist who supports herself with performances and piano teaching. Unfortunately, she has a relationship with her cousin's husband, Edward Davis. When this becomes known, she is shunned by her family, friends, and business contacts in Dayton, Ohio. Her money is running low when she writes to Oscar Williams, a man who proposed marriage to her five years previously, but whom she refused. Oscar married Bernadette in Galveston, Texas, but by the time he received Catherine's letter, Bernadette, his wife of five years has died of malaria, leaving a 4 year old son, Andre. After several months of letters, Oscar proposes again and this time Catherine accepts. Oscar now has a profitable dairy farm on Galveston Island, several miles outside of Galveston city. When Catherine arrives, she is stunned by the differences between Dayton and her new home. She quickly marries Oscar and goes to live with him and Andre on the dairy farm with the only convenience, inside water. She must use an outhouse which can be full of snakes. The housekeeper, Nan Ogden, was best friends with Bernadette, and comes daily to cook, clean, and take care of Andre as Bernadette had asked her to. The book details the relationship between Nan and Catherine and Catherine's relationship with Oscar as well as the September 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston. This is not an uplifting book--the reason for my three stars.. ( )

I absolutely loved this, one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking books I have ever read. I can't recommend it highly enough. ( )

THE PROMISE by Ann Weisgarber
If you are looking a book long description of the devastating hurricane of 1900 and its aftermath, this not the book for you. While an accurate and terrifying description of the storm does appear, it is brief and secondary to the love story.
If you looking for a description of life on a hardscrabble Texas farm along with a family story, this is the book for you. The book is well written and well researched. Catherine is clearly portrayed as is Oscar.
Catherine is a pianist with a problem. The man she loves is married and now everyone knows and condemns her. In a desperate effort to get a new start Catherine chooses to marry Oscar, a man she hasn’t seen in years, and start a new life in Galvaston, Texas in August of 1900.
4 of 5 stars ( )

Your best friend is dying and she asks you to look after her small son when she is gone. You, Nan Ogden, agree and all is well until her husband, Oscar Williams, the boy’s father remarries. The new wife comes from Dayton, Ohio to Galveston, Texas to live with her new family and everything changes. The year is 1900 and the new wife named Catherine is not accustomed to life on a farm where things are much different than they were in the city.

Catherine is a concert pianist who became involved with a married man. She leaves Dayton to marry Oscar who was a former admirer. By doing so, she removes herself from the scandalous life that she created in Dayton. Adapting to life on the farm in Galveston with a family proves to be a big challenge for Catherine. Nan also finds being in the house with Catherine awkward. Circumstances soon cause these two women to face the most difficult challenges in their lives.

This historical fiction describes the difficulties of life in the 1900’s in Galveston, Texas with such great detail that I felt as if I were actually there. I appreciated the difficulties as well as the pleasures that the characters experienced in their daily lives. I liked that music and its enjoyment played a big part in the story. And the romantic relationship between Catherine and Oscar evolved in a wonderfully believable manner. Lastly, I learned much about the hurricane that caused many deaths and widespread destruction in Galveston in 1900. I look forward to reading future books written by Weisgarber.
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In 1900, young pianist Catherine must leave town after she creates a terrible scandal. Can marrying old flame Oscar and moving to the rough and wild Galveston Island save her ?