This book was awful. The writing was terrible, the story was NOT engaging. The novel is basically about two girls living in poverty in New York City, when the Brooklyn bridge is being built. The two characters are both incredibly annoying, as well as their foil, who they refer to as the "Do-Gooder" - everyone is irritating, and you could really care less about them. When tragedy strikes the main characters, you honestly DON'T CARE, and can't wait for the story to be over. I skimmed probably the last 50 - 60 pages of the book. The only reason I kept reading it was because I had already read 100 pages and felt like I had to read the rest. Interesting idea, but terribly executed, terribly written, and terribly boring.