Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris, audiobook, 9h 48m
Synopsis from Audible: A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes the story behind the picture is worth a thousand more. —2 CHILDREN FOR SALE— In 1931, near Philadelphia, ambitious reporter Ellis Reed photographs the gut-wrenching sign posted beside a pair of siblings on a farmhouse porch. With the help of newspaper secretary Lily Palmer, Ellis writes an article to accompany the photo. Capturing the hardships of American families during the Great Depression, the feature story generates national attention and Ellis's career skyrockets. But the piece also leads to consequences more devastating than he and Lily ever imagined - and it will risk everything they value to unravel the mystery and set things right. Inspired by a newspaper photo that stunned readers throughout the country, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of ambition, redemption, love, and family.
BOOK REVIEW: This is a review for the audiobook. I chose this for VBC's January book because my mom mentioned that she had been seeing it everywhere and thought it might be a good story for book club. I'm glad we read it. I chose to listen to the book because it was available in the Audible member library. The stories that intertwine are wonderful and while I sometimes got lost as to who we were following in the chapter (it would switch between Ellis and Lily), the story overall made me laugh, almost cry, had my jaw drop occasionally, and left me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to not be living in in the 1930s.
As a mom I cannot even begin to fathom what these parents had to go through to sell their children during that time period. To keep a roof over their head and food in their bellies they had to sell their children and hope and pray that the people who take them will do right by them. It also broke my heart every time Lily had to leave her son behind to go to work for the week. I know the pain I felt just leaving my daughter for the day to go to work...I can't even imagine leaving Sunday evening to hopefully be back Friday evening.
I rate the audiobook a 4.5. It is the rating that felt right at the end. It might not be 5 stars because of Mom Guilt hitting too close to home but overall the story is excellent. The narrator did a fantastic job with the minor fluctuation in his voice to change between male and female characters instead of trying too hard to make his voice much higher. Every scene had wonderful imagery and sometimes even describing the smells (as gross as it could be), I could almost smell the cigar and cigarette smoke. I don't think I've read anything by the author before but that might change now! As of 1.25.25 this book is available in the KU library and the Audible member library so if you have one of those subscriptions, you should definitely add this to your TBR!
4.5/5 Stars
2025 Reading Challenge: 7/50 complete
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