Book excerpt: Catherine Fitzpatrick has used her keen reporter's eyes for detail and fashioned a sweeping saga of the wealthy Reinhardt family, St. Louis merchants who built a local retail empire over the course of a century... The characters vividly jump off the pages and pull you into their lives. Carol S. Cole, Former Features Editor, St. Louis Globe-Democrat An epic ... Writing it meant knowing vast amounts of information ... Many, many passages are strikingly beautiful, some scenes are memorable - so real they're painful to remember. Rose Marie Kinder, Editor Emerita, Pleiades, Winner, 1991 Willa Cather Award Author of An Absolute Gentleman I fell in love with several characters. A.Y. Stratton, Author of Buried Heart With intelligent research and a fine feel for place, this book builds around its characters the kind of historical context that helps to explain how and why people see the world as they do. Eric Sandweiss, Carmony Chair, Department of History, Indiana University, Author of St. Louis: The Evolution of an Urban American Landscape A rare and nearly perfect glimpse into a world long past. It's a well-researched first novel that will entertain, inform, and touch emotions for everyone. Kris Radish, Best Selling Bantam Dell Author, www.krisradish.com