Books Set in North America; United States; Chicago, Illinois

White Collar Girl, by Renée Rosen (2015)

 

White Collar Girl is set in the late 1950s and focuses on budding journalist Jordan Walsh.  Jordan comes from a journalistic family – both her father and brother were journalists.  After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, Jordan lands a job with the Chicago Tribune.  She has dreams of landing an investigative position on the city desk, but women journalists were assigned to writing puff pieces.  She is assigned to cover society weddings, cooking and other light “women’s interest” pieces.

 

Jordan’s brother had been killed in what was ostensibly a hit-and-run accident and the driver was never caught.  His death plunges Jorden’s parents into a downward spiral.  Jordan thinks there might be something to her brother’s death.  She learns that he was investigating a horsemeat scandal when he was killed.  Was his death related to a coverup?

 

As a young, new reporter, Jordan realized that she must pursue stories.  She didn’t just settle for writing up the stories she was assigned but sought out stories.  She befriends a source in government who passes on leads. Initially, the stories she writes are credited to her male co-workers.

 

The author attempts to put as many of Chicago’s scandals into this novel with Jordan being the investigative reporter.  The stories that Jordan pursues are based on actual events that occurred in Chicago, but the time frames are not necessarily within the scope of this novel.  The author did accurately portray the trials that a young female reporter would have encountered in the 1950s (some of which are probably still encountered today).  Jordan being the reporter so single-minded just didn’t ring true.

 

In the 1960 Presidential election, President Kennedy narrowly won the election, and largely due to the results from Chicago.  This novel discussed how the election was rigged and that Nixon probably did have the election stolen from him.  Interestingly, White Collar Girl was published in 2015, before there was talk of the 2020 election being stolen.

 

I read Renée Rosen’s book The Social Graces and totally loved it, so wanted to read something else by this author.  While White Collar Girl was good, it wasn’t as good as the first book I read by Rosen.

 

Read:  January 17, 2022

 

3 Stars

Books Set in Africa: Kenya

A Death in Kenya, by M.M. Kaye (1958)

This cozy murder mystery takes place against the background of the Kenya Emergency, as the British called it, or the Mau Mau Uprising.  It was the war in the British Kenya Colony between the Mau Mau and the British authorities that took place in the 1950s.  The major characters in the novel are British and live on large, and isolated, farms in rural Kenya with many African servants.  The attitudes of the white characters reflects the attitude towards their servants as would have been during this time period.

Lady Emily (Em) Debrett has lived in Kenya her entire life.  At age 72, she still run her farm estate, named The Flamingo.  It is her dream to build a family dynasty to be passed down through generations.  She lives on The Flamingo with her grandson, Eden, and his wife, Alice.  She seems dismissive of the uprising, believing that her family will live in Kenya long after it ceases to be a colony.

When the novel opens, a “poltergeist” has been wreaking havoc at The Flamingo.  Valuable items are broken or gone missing.  This, and the raging uprising between the Mau Mau and the British causes tension among the British farmers.

Lady Emily invites her young niece, Victoria, to The Flamingo help with the accounting books.  Victoria grew up in Kenya and has fond memories of the area.  She had been engaged to Eden, so has some trepidation about joining her aunt in Kenya but doesn’t want to disappoint the family.

The day Victoria is to arrive in Kenya, Eden’s wife has been found brutally murdered.  Alice had been returning to The Flamingo from the home of Gilly Markham.  Markham was The Flamingo’s estate manager, albeit he was more interested in music and drinking than tending to the estate.  He lived with his wife, Lisa, who was in love with Eden.  Was she killed by one of the servants?

Shortly Victoria’s arrival in Kenya, the white settlers travel into the countryside for a picnic.  After their meal, the participants go in separate ways to explore.  Then, another death occurs.  Suddenly, everyone becomes a suspect.  Secrets are revealed and past grudges erupt.

This was a fun read in the vein of Agatha Christie mystery novels.

Read: December 12, 2021

         February 24, 1995

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: American Mid-West

Your Sins and Mine: The Terrifying Fable of a World Without Faith, by Taylor Caldwell (1955)

This book was published in 1955 and is set in the mid-1950s during the Cold War.  Political tensions are high between the United States and the Communist countries.  This is the background of this dystopian novel.

The novel is narrated by Pete, a young farmer, who lives with his family somewhere in middle America.  His family consists of his wife, his parents, his brother and his brother’s family.  His brother was blinded in Korea, so his farm chores are limited.  The patriarch is a deeply religious man who can quote the Bible almost by heart.

The novel begins when the father notices changes in weather patterns.  At first he just silently noticed the changes.  Then the lack of rain becomes obvious.  The earth becomes parched and the crops dry up.  Winter comes, but no snow falls.  The lakes and rivers are not replenished.

Then, where the fields were once lush with growing wheat and corn, thorny weeds begin to take over the grounds.  The weeds are so thick that it becomes impossible to walk through them.  They must be continually trimmed to avoid entering the house.  The weeds give off a toxic sulfurous fog which encompasses the countryside.  Soon poisonous scorpion-like critters inundate the land ~ critters whose sting means instant death.

In the cities, the shelves are bare, as the food source from the farms has dried up.  The government keeps silent.  No one knows what is going on and the government’s silence only brings further terror.  Riots ensue.  No one knows that all around the world the people are experiencing similar draughts and famines.

One day, in desperation, Pete falls to his knees and silently makes a prayer.  Suddenly, the circle of weeds around him wither away and grass begins to grow.  The city people and the government are convinced that Pete and his family have some sort of special chemical that can make the weeds dissipate.  People are slowly dying from starvation and are convinced that the farmers are hording stores of food.

There is only one thing that can save the people, and the world, but it is something that each person must discover on his own.

Knowing that this novel was written during the Cold War gives this novel some perspective.  It is interesting, however, that the theme of government keeping the truth from populous never really goes away.

The book was interesting, but not one of my favorites by Taylor Caldwell.

Read:  March 14, 2020

3 Stars