Book Reviewed by Bev Scott
Sold on a Monday is inspired by a photograph of children with the sign “2 Children for Sale” from 1948 which the author Kristina McMorris stumbled upon. The story challenges journalistic integrity, tugs at your heartstrings and offers a sweet love story.
Ellis, an aspiring newspaper reporter in the early 1930’s, desperate to advance his career takes a chance on a staged photo. Lily, another employee of the newspaper, casually assists him. who is guarding her own secret, he gets his big chance. But guilt pursues him, and he takes more chances with his career to assuage his worry about what he has contributed to the fate of the children. Lily carries her own burden of shame and needs to balance motherhood and a career. Thus, she also pursues a dubious path in search of information about the children. Their individual and joint efforts both separate them and bring them together.
McMorris writes a touching yet gripping story. I turned the pages anxious to learn the compelling mystery of the children. She has developed realistic characters and a plot that draws you in immediately. My only criticism of the book, is that Ellis and Lily seem to take unrealistic illegal risks. Although the country was less suspicious and legalistic than it is today, I wonder if the actions they take to recover the children would have been realistically possible in the 1930’s? On the other hand, it is fiction and a good read.
I recommend Sold on a Monday which I purchased at a reading by the author.
