What do readers think of The Incorrigibles by Meredith Jaeger? Write your own review.

Meredith Jaeger’s newest book, The Incorrigibles, is my favorite of her novels to date! It's a dual timeline historical fiction set in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood in 1890 and in 1972 as the neighborhood fights against urban renewal. Deeply researched and timelessly relevant, it touches on injustice, oppression and housing insecurity, but is also a page-turning story of hope, courage and strong women who rebel against what society expects of them. I was immediately drawn into the characters and wanted to know what would happen next in their lives, but also enjoyed how the book peeled back the layers of time …more in a specific place. Even though the two timelines are in the past, everything these women and the communities they find along the way struggled with remain very relevant today. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, strong female characters, or well-researched histories of San Francisco in particular, but really any urban city. (less)

We meet Annie in 1890 - an Irish immigrant who worked as a housemaid in a wealthy household.

She was tricked by one of the male members of the family she worked for. He took a ring out of his aunt’s jewelry box while visiting, gave it to Annie, and denied giving Annie the ring when she was accused of stealing it.

Annie was arrested and sentenced to one year in San Quentin with 20 other women inmates.

We follow Annie as she lives through the awful conditions and treatment in the prison.

Then we meet Judy In 1972 as she has left her husband and is struggling to stay away from Tony and find a job.

Judy finds a photo of …more Annie inside a book at a photographer’s shop where she gets a job and makes it her mission to find out more about Annie.

Judy also attends meetings she learned about from a librarian as she was doing research on Annie. The meetings focus on the how residents protest against the demolition of areas of San Francisco that the city deems an eyesore. The problem, though, is that the residents have been living there for almost their entire lives.

Annie will pull at your heart strings as you suffer along with her because of the accusation and while she is in San Quentin.

Judy will have you hoping she finds what she can about Annie, hoping she can keep her husband at bay, and hoping she is able to help the residents.

Ms. Jaeger’s descriptive writing and amazing research pull you in immediately.

You won't want to put the book down because you want to know if Annie survived and if Judy was successful in finding herself and finding Annie's full story.

The Incorrigibles is another marvelous read you won’t be able to put down because of the characters, their stories, and especially if you are a fan of historical fiction. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. (less)

We meet Annie in 1890 - an Irish immigrant who worked as a housemaid in a wealthy household.

She was tricked by one of the male members of the family she worked for. He took a ring out of his aunt’s jewelry box while visiting, gave it to Annie, and denied giving Annie the ring when she was accused of stealing it.

Annie was arrested and sentenced to one year in San Quentin with 20 other women inmates.

We follow Annie as she lives through the awful conditions and treatment in the prison.

Then we meet Judy In 1972 as she has left her husband and is struggling to stay away from Tony and find a job.

Judy finds a photo of …more Annie inside a book at a photographer’s shop where she gets a job and makes it her mission to find out more about Annie.

Judy also attends meetings she learned about from a librarian as she was doing research on Annie.

The meetings focus on the how residents protest against the demolition of areas of San Francisco that the city deems an eyesore. The problem, though, is that the residents have been living there for almost their entire lives.

Annie will pull at your heart strings as you suffer along with her because of the accusation and while she is in San Quentin.

Judy will have you hoping she finds what she can about Annie, hoping she can keep her husband at bay, and hoping she is able to help the residents.

Ms. Jaeger’s descriptive writing and amazing research pull you in immediately.

You won't want to put the book down because you want to know if Annie survived and if Judy was successful in finding herself and finding Annie's full story.

The Incorrigibles is another marvelous read you won’t be able to put down because of the characters, their stories, and especially if you are a fan of historical fiction. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. (less)