Sold On A Monday by Kristina McMorris

 Sold On A Monday by Kristina McMorris

    I really enjoyed reading this book, it had an unusual storyline which kept me engaged, and turning the pages to see how it would resolve.  It takes place during the Depression.  Ellis the low man on a Philadelphia newspaper is driving toward an event for an assignment in rural Pennsylvania, when his car’s radiator overheats.  To kill time while it cools, he walks down the country road and comes upon a poorly kept up house with a hand-painted sign on the porch that says, “Children for Sale”.  He is shocked by the sign and just how bad things have gotten for some people, so he asks the two small boys playing in the yard to come over by the sign and sit down, and he takes a photo of the boys by the sign.

    Ellis was taking the photo for his own photo collection, not for the newspaper, but Lily, the editor’s secretary,  sees the photo on his desk and shows it to the editor, who sees the impact such a story would have on the newspaper, then asks Ellis to write and article about the photo.  He struggles at how to approach the story and is helped along by Lily.  He completes the task, writing a very good article about the economic struggles of some people.

  Before the paper can run the story, an accident in the office destroys the photo and negative.  This creates a problem for Ellis, so he drives back out to the house to take another photo, but discovers that the house has been vacated.  The sign is still lying there, and after noticing a boy and girl in a nearby house, he goes over to see what had happened to their neighbor and is told hey have moved away.

    Desperate to get a photo for his story, he pays these children’s mother to allow him to take the photo of the sign and her children, promising he will not use their name or location.  The mother seems in great need of money so she gives her permission.   The newspaper runs the photo and article to great success. Ellis continues to give visit the mother to give her the donations that flood into the paper for the family.  Newspapers around the country pick up and use the story.  Lily and Ellis are mutually attracted to each other, but Lily is also pursued by Clayton, another reporter.  Ellis is promoted, but feels guilty for secretly staging the second photo.   

    Because of his reporting and writing skills, Ellis is offered a much better job in a New York newspaper, but doesn’t want to give up on Lily.  Just as he needs to make a decision about the New York job, he learns of Lily’s growing relationship with Clayton, so he decides to take the New York job.  There he is quickly promoted and given a big increase in salary, however it means writing more salacious articles, not those about suffering people.  His focus begins to change from writing about people suffering in the Depression to crime and corruption, but he continues to have guilt about staging the photo of children for sale.

    Lily, on a trip to New York for a wedding, brings Ellis more donations for the family he photographed, when he goes to deliver the money to them, he discovers that the family is gone and the mother has sold her girl and boy.  This is truly upsetting for Ellis and for Lily and it puts them on a search to find both the mother, and the two kids.

    The story has many twists and turns that kept me the reading and turning pages to see how the story would resolve.  It was very engaging and enjoyable.

            This book is also available as an ebook, and I was able to down load it read through Libby, the library’s app.

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