A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett

All of the holds on my Libby account say that they will take four or more weeks to become available and I needed something to read on my Kindle at night, so when Ken Follett's 1993 joint A Dangerous Fortune was available for download immediately, what else was I going to do except grab it? 

In 1866, a boy drowns at the exclusive private Windfield School. What unwinds is a tale involving the boys at that school, politics, intrigue, some very violent deaths, and me uttering "this is batshit crazy" many many times during the reading. We follow the boys as they get older, get married, and visit an innumerable number of brothels. 

I just find Follett so readable. Was this absolutely crazy to read? Yes. Was this absolutely implausible? Yes. Did I gasp audibly at some (kind of gruesome, violent) scenes? Yes. Did I love every page? Yes. 

I get that there are people out there who don't like Follett's soap opera Rube-Goldberg way of writing. But it's honestly such a joy for me to read his books. 5/5 stars

Things I looked up:

dollymop (page 71 for the first time) - (slang, British) an amateur, often part-time, female prostitute in 19th-century London

"There's Lady St. Ann in a Dolly Varden Hat!" (page 112) - a Dolly Varden is a woman's outfit fashionable from about 1869 to 1875 in Britain and the United States. It is named after a character in Charles Dickens, and the items of clothing referred to are usually a hat or dress

Public domain

caudillo (page 278) - (in Spanish-speaking regions) a military or political leader

winkles (page 289) - small intertidal sea snails, some edible

navvy (page 488) - a laborer employed in the excavation and construction of a road, railroad, or canal

Van Diemen's Land (page 519) - the colonial name of Tasmania during the European exploration and colonization of Australia in the 19th century

Hat mentions (why hats?):

Historical fiction has SO MANY HATS. This one has 73. 

black hat (page 22, 426), broad-brimmed hat (page 33), top hat (page 33, 78, 102, 113, 137, 152, 261, 276, 344, 369, 399, 422, 461, 564), ostrich feathers in her hat (page 48), straw hat (page 58, 187), amazing hats (page 72), huge hat (page 74), underneath the hat (page 74), bowler-hatted clerks (page 78, 536), bowler hat (page 85, 93, 258, 259), touched his hat (page 85), had their hats on (page 85), the hat was a mistake (page 108), put his hat on his head (page 111), get your hat (page 111), dresses and hats (page 112), "There's Lady St. Ann in a Dolly Varden Hat!" (page 112), tilt of the hat (page 113), "How dare you take off your hat to her!" (page 115), jaunty hat (page 115), doffed his hat (page 116, 291), white hat (page 135), sailor hat (page 148), tipping people's hats off (page 152), took off his hat (page 153, 388), took off her hat (page 170), pinning her hat to her hair (page 182), hanging up their hats (page 195), without his hat (page 196), took Hugh's hat (page 238), fur coat and hat (page 258), elaborate hats (page 285, 522), respectable hat (page 291), hung his hat (page 293), gowns and hats (page 323), hat blows off (page 342), his hat had fallen off (page 345), hat and cane (page 346, 367), put on his/her hat (page 370, 523, 336), grabbed his hat (page 399), hat with a feather (page 440), hat over her eyes (page 462), Tonio's hat (page 519), "Take your hat off, Nora," he said. (page 522), picked up his hat and coat (page 522), big hat (page 545), the bird on her hat (page 547), only one hat like that (page 548), little hat (page 563)