All posts tagged: 1950s

Period debut by Gretchen Berg delves into the 1950s in small-town Wooster, Ohio, telephone operators, gossip, class, and more in THE OPERATOR

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By Leslie Lindsay  A light, satisfying read about two women, a small town, and piles of gossip. ~WEDNESDAYS WITH WRITERS| ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Nobody knows the people of small-town Wooster, Ohio better than Vivian Dalton,and she’ll be the first to tell you so. She calls it ‘intuition,’ her teenaged daughter, Charlotte calls it, what it is: eavesdropping. Vivian and her colleagues work at Ohio Bell, connecting lines and lives. No one is supposed to listen in on calls, but they do. THE OPERATOR (William Morrow, March 10 2020) a debut by Gretchen Berg is about rumors, stories, class structure, education, gender inequality, and more. It is often humorous, relatable in most, and though it’s set in the early 1950s, it’s timely and topical, too. Plus, can we say, > “cover crush?! ” We want to believe the 1950s was simpler, easier, but there were true concerns and worries then, too. There’s jealousy, bigotry, infidelity, and even embezzlement. THE OPERATOR is told primarily through Vivian Dalton, who is a bit insecure about her place in the world. She’s bright was asked to give …

The storied–and haunted–history of one of NYC’s iconic hotels, THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis is about friendship, theater, and McCarthyism

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By Leslie Lindsay  Spanning the 1940s thru 1960s, THE CHELSEA GIRLS pulls back the curtain (literally) on the political pressures of McCarthyism, complex bonds of female friendships, and the creative call of the NYC Chelsea Hotel.  I’ve been a fan of Fiona Davis since her debut, THE DOLLHOUSE (2016), about The Barbizon Hotel, home of girls in secretarial school in the 1950s, and was thrilled to receive a copy of her forthcoming THE CHELSEA GIRLS, about another iconic NYC hotel. It’s elegantly shabby–there’s glam and glitz and danger in the 1950s Manhattan, following WWII. Many great artists, playwrights, musicians, actors, and poets call the Chelsea home, but something else stalks these halls. Hazel Ripley has spent her life on the sidelines–always an understudy, never a lead. And she’s still reeling from the death of her beloved brother. She and Maxine strike up a friendship while on a USO tour and it’s through Maxine that she learns of the Chelsea Hotel as a mecca for creative types. When she returns to NYC after the war, she finds herself at the …

Elaine Neil Orr on her luminous, glittering tale, SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS on racial tension in the 1960s and so much more

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By Leslie Lindsay  SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS is such a tender, thoughtful, and affecting read on what it means to be touched by another culture–brimming with personal and social issues and told in a gentle, glimmering prose.  I’ll admit to having a bit of a cover crush on SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS. I mean, it’s stunning, right? To me, it embodies summer with a nod to a simpler time. Of course, we read because of the story, not the cover. And this one absolutely brings the carefree days of yesteryear to light, but…were they so carefree? This was my first book by Elaine Neil Orr and here’s what I know:  she’s drawn to tales that take place in distinct locations and is eager to merge them into a seamless whole. Place is not just a setting for her, but a character. SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS takes place in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Nigeria, places that couldn’t be more different from one another. Plus, it’s the South in the 1950s-60s, we we’re talking civil rights and a lot of naiveté. “A perceptive and powerful …

Joanna Goodman on her new novel, HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS, repeating family history, & more

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By Leslie Lindsay  More than the title suggests, THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS is a multigenerational family saga focusing on historical events in the Canadian Province of Quebec. Inspired by real-life events, the author draws on her mother’s childhood and spins a tale that is oh-so-good, but also heartbreaking. In the 1950s, the French and English Canadians tolerate each other at best, but there’s hatred brewing under the surface. Maggie Hughes’s father has ambitions for his daughter, and they don’t include anything to do with the French boy, Gabriel Phenix. But Maggie has other plans. When she gets pregnant at 15 gives birth to Elodie, her parents force her to give up the baby and come back home. Maggie’s heart will forever be with Gabriel. Told in alternating POVs between Maggie and her daughter, Elodie, we get glimpse into both of their harsh lives. Maggie is married to a businessman but the marriage lacks passion. Elodie is being raised in an orphanage at the cruel hands of the nuns until one day, it’s decided the …

Wednesdays with Writers: Damian McNicholl talks about his luminous new book inspired by the first American female matador Patricia McCormick, tips on writing realistic characters, sexism, Hemingway, nature, and more in THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

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By Leslie Lindsay Inspired by the life of the real first American female matador Patricia McCormick, THE MOMENT TRUTH is a graceful historical fiction brimming with detail.  After a trip to a Mexican bullfight with her father, Kathleen Boyd is mesmerized with the art of bullfighting. She spends her childhood practicing in the family’s backyard with a red cloth and their Great Dane. Now, a discontent 19-year old art student in 1950s Texas and Kathleen still wants to make her dream happen. I was immediately drawn into the world of Kathleen, her character well-developed and intriguing. In fact, I found myself thinking about her (and the real Patricia McCormick) when I wasn’t reading. The entire concept of the book, I thought, was entirely original. While there are plenty of historical fiction on the shelves, what brought THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (Pegasus, June 6 2017) alive for me was the time period, the unique location (set primarily in Mexico), but most of all–the unique aspirations of bullfighting from a woman’s POV. Plus, The Houston Chronicle *just* named …