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| Image: Tantor Media |
Teen Tuesday features The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is an orphan who lives with Old Gin, a grandfatherly man who took her in as an infant and fostered her for her entire life. The two squat in the basement of a building that houses a struggling newspaper. Jo has just lost her job at a milliner even though she is a gifted hat maker. The reason? Jo is Chinese and the owner does not want her patrons to have to deal with Jo, even as she steals Jo's ideas. Old Gin, who works as a groom for one of Atlanta's richest families, has found Jo a job as a lady's maid to the spoiled daughter. Jo had previously worked for the family but was inexplicably fired several years earlier. She's not happy to return, but she needs the money. She's also worried about the newspaper closing. The family that runs it are nice, but more importantly, where will she and Old Gin sleep if the paper shuts down? She wonders what she could do to help. After she notices that the rival newspaper's advice column seems to be popular, she writes and submits a sample, "Miss Sweetie" column.
This is epic historical fiction, after a bit a slow start. It was needed to set up the many characters and vivid Post-Reconstruction setting. I also needed to get used to the narrator. Once that gelled, I was fully invested and immersed in the story. While I was eager to find out the mystery of Jo's parentage, I really didn't want the story to end. The book was peopled with characters I would want to know in real life. Narrator Emily Woo Zeller had distinct voices for all the characters.
Teens who are fans of historical fiction will gobble this up. I sure did love it. The audiobook cover is rather nondescript. I love the book's cover.
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| Image: Penguin Random House |
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