Written by Kristina McMorrin, this novel follows Ellis, a reporter trying to move up in the world, and Lillian, the secretary at Ellis’ newspaper who also wants to become a reporter but struggles juggling her secret with her career goals.
Sadly, I could not get an image uploaded, but this novel begins with a photo that Ellis happens to take that Lillian sees and brings to the big boss for a story. In this picture, two boys are sitting in front of a sign saying 2 Children for Sale. And, with the novel set during the Great Depression, this makes headlines and goes around the US, elevating Ellis up in the world. However, that original picture was destroyed and he had to recreate the photo, which brings a whole set of problems of their own.
The biggest thing that surprised be was that Ellis was not, by a long shot, my favorite character. Ellis had flaws, and at points his morals were flexible to get where he wanted to go. On the other hand, the supporting character Clayton, who knows Lillian’s secret and never tells a soul, is honestly my favorite. He has morals, and he isn’t willing to budge on those just to get a story. But, he doesn’t judge Lillian for her secret, and even understands. I just adored him.
This novel is INSPIRED by a true store that ran the papers at the time, and turned out to be a hoax.
This novel take a look at that and what if it had been based more in real life. As a discussion novel, this brought up a lot of things that did happen to children at that time when their parents honestly couldn’t afford to feed them.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. This author did a great job and took a hard look at what it really would have been like back then.
