There’s no mystery involved in “The Winthrop Agreement,” and the narrative in this historical fiction is fairly straightforward as author Alice Sherman Simpson takes us forward and backward in time right around the turn of the 20th Century. The only mystery we might consider is how, over the past century, so much has changed in terms of technology and our lifestyles, and yet so little has changed in terms of our class prejudices and the chasm that exists between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us.

We meet 15-year-old Rivkah Milmanovitch as she leaves her native Lithuania to meet her brand new husband in America. What happens when she arrives in New York City, but there’s no handsome husband there to greet her? Rivkah has a friend from the Old Country who went to America with her husband, and Rivkah finds Lottie only to discover that Lottie’s husband has absconded, too.

Lottie works as a seamstress in a factory, and Rivkah gets a job there as well. It’s a horrible job, with cruel working conditions (the girls get money withheld from their pay to pay for “their” sewing machines). The windows are kept shut even on the hottest summer days, and there is no fresh air. They work 12-hour days for a pittance.

Even though Rivkah and her husband were together for only a week before he left for America to “prepare the way for her,” she got pregnant. When she has a baby boy, she moves into a tiny apartment, one room, to give Lottie her privacy. Lottie had been studying bookkeeping to get out of the factory and ends up working for the wealthy Winthrop family. At this point, the story turns to Rivkah’s dauughter Miriam, known to family and friends as Mimi. Mimi loves fabrics and gowns, and as she grows up, she has dreams of her own.

Unfortunately for Mimi, at 15 she meets the disreputable younger Winthrop brother, who seduces her. Simpson clearly shows that Mimi was lucky that Frederick Winthrop only seduced her and then, with Mimi’s mother getting hospitalized and dying, he was unable to take things further. Through some unsettling recounting of Frederick’s sick childhood pursuits, we quickly realize that he’s a psychopath in the making. He starts with killing small animals but soon progresses to other creatures. He has absolutely no morals and gets much pleasure from stealing from his mother, who has despised him almost since his birth. Perhaps she sensed his depravity even then.

Rivkah has worked nonstop to provide for herself and Mimi, but that’s left little time or energy to be a loving mother. Lottie has helped and is there to give Mimi affection, and they are close. When Rivkah dies, Lottie and Mimi remain close. And when Mimi gets pregnant by Frederick Winthrop at 15, Lottie is again there to help, although Lottie doesn’t know at that time who the father is. In fact, Mimi has never known the last name of her seducer.

But when Mimi is evicted from her tiny apartment, everything comes together. The older, kinder Winthrop brothers recognize her name as the young teenager Frederick had paraded through his hotel (much to the horror of its residents), and when Lottie tells them about Mimi’s baby, they realize who the seducer was — their degenerate younger brother Frederick. Worried about their reputation and their philanthropy and their good standing in high society, they make Mimi a very generous offer to keep her and the child comfortable. In return, she must never disclose who the child’s father is.

But the good Winthrop brothers do more than just give Mimi some money. They give her a scholarship to a trade school to learn about sewing and running a business. They also make sure that her son, Matthew, will attend good schools and have an excellent education. Mimi is able to use her talent and training to create a business as a clothing designer, and her connection to the Winthrops gives her access to the wealthiest members of high society.

The story doesn’t have many twists and turns. It is instead a very thoughtful accounting of the immigration experience and how insecure and difficult it is when those who are brought up struggling to survive then experience the ultra-wealthy in their environment. Mimi is clever, but it’s easy for her to mistake warmth for friendship, and she comes to realize that while those who utilize her couture services will flatter her and profess their esteem, it’s not the same as true friendship, and she must “know her place.”

This is not a love story, but it’s a look into the various strata of New York City society, the many nationalities, the social tiers, the prejudices and peculiarities, even the different foods. What shines through the narrative is Mimi’s story, her effervescent personality, her enthusiasm for life and making friends, her devotion to her son, and her talent for conceiving beautiful, unique creations. It’s an engaging story that could just as well have been set in the present day in terms of the immigrant experience and class divisions. It’s not only a pleasure to read; it’s thoughtful and filled with likable characters.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.