A Fortune of Sand
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A glittering, gothic page-turner about power, control, and the price women pay when they demand to be seen, rich with Gatsby vibes and twisty family drama, from the beloved author of Salt to the Sea
“Enthralling . . . While history is often molded by those in power, there are always those who can wrest control and write a new story of their own.”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies
Detroit, 1927. A city of smoke and ambition, where glittering wealth conceals a graveyard of secrets.
Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a powerful Detroit dynasty—a family rich in money and poor in charm. Creative, reckless, and never quite what they wanted, Marjorie has spent her life overlooked by her controlling father and self-absorbed siblings. But when she secretly applies to an elite arts program backed by a mysterious patron, she grabs the chance to finally step out of her family’s shadow.
The building is grand.
The talent is extraordinary.
And something is deeply wrong.
The program is strict in ways that feel sinister. Doors lock at strange hours. Rumors spread about women going missing. And the handsome benefactor behind it all is as magnetic as he is unsettling. As Marjorie gets pulled deeper into his world, she must fight to discover the truth before she loses herself completely.
Set in the fading splendor of 1920s Detroit and inspired by real, long-buried events, A Fortune of Sand is a gripping historical mystery that “recreates the Jazz Age in all its glory and tarnish” (Time).
- Pages
- 333
- First published
- May 26, 2026
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
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Shelved by 3 Litcadians
Reviews
- Slow-paced
Started May 1, 2026 · Finished May 1, 2026
I'd read Ruta Sepetys's Salt to the Sea a few years ago and was interested in picking up more of her work; the premise of a 1920s auto heiress in Detroit sounded so promising that I finally got around to it. While I'll admit that there were things about this that didn't resonate with me, it was an overall enjoyable read. The setting was atmospheric, perfectly blending the era's opulence with an ever-present unsettling undertone that left me waiting for the other shoe to drop. The characters were enigmatic, eccentric, and I could never tell who was telling the truth. As with Salt to the Sea, I really appreciated Sepetys's choice to write about a place and time that we don't often see in historical fiction, and her love for the project as a native of Detroit really shone through in her attention to detail. I was engaged from start to finish, and think this is the kind of book that will stay with me for a while. I'd easily recommend this to lovers of historical fiction (or the 1920s vibes), those who are fascinated by the wealthy, and people who just want some good old-fashioned family drama. Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.