We did it friends!!! We finished the first book in the book-a-month challenge! Woo hoo! ?
January is always a good reading month for me because time slows down a bit after the holidays. I was able to finish this month’s selection, Sold on a Monday, pretty quickly. With upcoming hectic schedules, I know that it will not always be that easy!
Sold on a Monday was an emotional read. This story is set in New England in 1931. Most families were deeply affected by the depression at this time. This story gives a glimpse into the not only the time of desperation, but also what it was like to live during the prohibition when mobsters were on every corner of New York.
Ellis Reed is a young journalist when he meets journalism secretary Lillian Palmer. Lillian is a young and courageous unwed mother. Ellis takes a picture of an unfortunate reality during the depression- two children being sold because their family has to make a tragic decision…keep the children or stay alive?
Of course, everything with the picture is not as it seems, but soon Ellis’ article and picture have gone ‘viral’. His guilt over the photograph’s reality sets him and Lillian on a dramatic quest to save the children. With mystery and romance plus twists and turns, this story was hard to put down!
In the novel, the children from the picture were in fact “purchased.” They spend time with a wealthy couple before being separated. One of them is even purchased again for use as a farm slave.
Therefore, the haunting question that author Kristina McMorris poses to readers is this: Where is the ideal place for these children to grow up? In an adoptive family that could more than adequately support them, or with their mother who can barely manage to keep herself afloat? This thought certainly tugs at parents’ heart strings.
Did you know that this ACTUALLY HAPPENED?! I had no idea when I chose this book. And that is why I love historical fiction! Here is the original photograph of a mother in Chicago that was published in 1948:
The photograph literally speaks a thousand words. That is one of the reasons there are so many great themes in this book for discussion. Questions for your book club can be found here.
I hope you enjoyed this book and have had a chance to request Are You Sleeping at your local library. So excited for February’s book of the month by my sorority sister, Kathleen Barber!
Keep reading!
-Kelly ?
