The Waiting World - by Andria Williams (Hardcover)

About the Book

Two Irish maids and a British WWI vet discover a treasure of ambergris, and attempt to flee from a tyrannical business tycoon in 1929.

Book Synopsis

FALL 1929

The mansion of larger-than-life business magnate Titus McAvoy hums with the energy of his servants Nessa and Aoife, two Irish maids bonded through their journey to America, and a dream of escape. When preparation for one of Titus's famous parties sends the pair to the beach, Aoife stumbles upon a strange find on the shoreline. She instinctively pockets it, unaware that the waxy, musky substance, ambergris, is the key to her and Nessa's freedom. Ounce for ounce, ambergris holds more worth than silver or gold.

Amid this discovery, a young white-passing British World War I veteran named John enters the mansion's ranks, his history dragging behind him. When John's path intersects with Nessa and Aoife, the trio forms a quiet trust. Eventually, the girls show John the ambergris treasure, and together, they formulate a plan to cash in their secret and make their getaway.

These three friends are determined to forge a different life together-one free from the dark underbelly of how the rich treat the poor, and free from the pervasive rot of nationalist and racist behavior, not to mention the injustices and dangers that too often befall women. But with a crash in the stock market demolishing Titus's wealth, his eye is sharp and malicious. As the trio's strategy unfolds, so too does their boss's own merciless plan to punish whoever defies his power. Nobody walks away from Titus McAvoy.

Review Quotes

"Before starting Andria Williams's new novel The Waiting World, clear your calendar because, from the first page onward, this is a story that grabs hold and won't let you go until the very end. Opening on the eve of the Great Depression, The Waiting World follows the lives of servants Nessa, Aoife, and John, who meet while working for rich (but soon, not so rich) Titus McAvoy at his Maine estate. Told from various points of view, Williams tunnels deep beneath the skin of her characters and into the secret chambers of their hearts to dramatically highlight the divisions of race, sex, and class in our society. I won't soon forget this book-it's an instant classic."

-David Abrams, author of Brave Deeds and Fobbit

"A tour de force. A compelling story of love and war. The Waiting World is expertly researched and beautifully written, but also an intimate meditation on class, race, and the American dream. As lyrical as Fitzgerald and as feisty as Whitman, Williams's second novel is a triumph of the imagination and a riveting read."

-M.C. Armstrong, author of The Mysteries of Haditha and American Delphi

"Narrated with dazzling prose that is both ethereal and precise, The Waiting World opens a new eye inside a quiet corner of American immigration history post-WWI. The characters dwell in a well-articulated convergence of war trauma, class struggle, racism, and gender oppression, but this does nothing to dim their desire to live and love beyond the confines of survival. Williams wows us again with this intimate, stunning meditation on human resilience."

-Jennifer Orth-Veillon, editor of Beyond Their Limits of Longing: Contemporary Writers & Veterans on the Lingering Stories of WWI