Sold on a Monday
Kristin McNorris
I received this copy from NetGalley for an honest Review:
#NetGalley #SoldOnAMonday
They say 'a picture is worth a thousand words'; well whoever 'they' are they are right about that! This book was a wonderful story about a photo; one that spoke to a newspaperman in the 1930's enough that his first big story came out of this photo that he took of a couple of kids on a porch with a 'children for sale' sign.
The story is a re-imagining of a really photo taken back in the day and the story definitely has twists and turns enough to keep you wondering how the characters and those children make out.
I truly enjoyed the world concept. I loved the characters who were very much what you would expect from that time era with a bit more spunk for the way they lived their lives and the chances they took ignorer to find those 'sold' children.
There's a love story inter-woven, family issues, morals and values.
A truly enjoyable read!

Historical fiction set in 1931 Pennsylvania and inspired by a picture of a mother trying to sell her children during the great depression. Beautifully told and very current given the horrifying US tragedy right now in 2018 where children are separated from their parents at Mexico's border and kept in cages. Worse than having to sell one's children because of poverty, much worse. This thought-provoking novel is a wonderful read, but an underlying message for me is that we seem never to learn from history.

Sold on a Monday by Kristina Mc Morris is a warm touching story about lily and Ellis who work for a. Newspaper in Philadelphia. Ellis writes a story that will jumpstart his career but the photograph that headlines the story is accidentally destroyed. So Ellis tries to recreate the situation but can’t do it so he creates a subsitute which is a lie. Only Lily and Ellis know of the deception. Guilt plaques them and they set out to make things right. There is excellent character development in this story. You gradually find out about Lily, her secret son and her family. And Ellis has a father who seems to only care about the brother that died. They are good people and you can only hope that they will overcome many obstacles and succeed.

"Sold on a Monday" was an old-fashioned sort of book and very readable. It takes place in 1931 in the middle of the Depression. An ambitious and somewhat desperate reporter takes a picture that will affect the lives of the people in the picture and many of those who only see it. The book reminded me a bit of all the Grace Livingston Hill books I read when I was young. They were books that championed characters with strong morals and goodness in their hearts, which is not often written about today. It took awhile for the hero to come around, but in the end, he found what was important in life.

I requested this book because the cover grabbed me, and I'm so glad I did! Great, heart-wrenching story about hard times and families during the depression. It's so horrible to think that this stuff really went on in our history. I did wish the ending had a little more to it. It wrapped up some things, but left a lot undone. It's a book I will definitely be recommending.

Another historic fiction about children for sale, only this time it is a bit misleading. As the reporters unravel the self created story, the mob makes an appearance, the long standing family rift heals, and love finds a way :) It was readable but not gripping.

I was given an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. This book was so very well written. It captivated me the entire time!

Started and stopped this book several times over the past month and still less than half way through when I finally gave up. Don't understand the high ratings and strong reviews. But this book was obviously not for me.

Sold on a Monday took me back to the Great Depression in this heart-breaking and beautiful story. The story walks us through how a mother could sell her kids, the why behind it and the after-affects. The book has so much emotion that I didn’t just want to know what happened, I needed to know what happened. This author can expertly spin a story, while creating fully realized characters. This is a story that sets you inside the plot and shows rather than tells.

One newspaper photograph started a chain of events that would disrupt a family and connect several complete strangers in ways they could have never imagined. When young fledgling reporter Ellis Reed saw a sign that read 2 Children for Sale posted on a local farmhouse, he felt compelled to photograph the children in question by the sign. With the recent Depression of 1929, many U.S. families were in dire straits and the photo definitely captured the sign of the times. Ellis was surprised later to hear that his Editor wanted him to write a feature story to accompany the photograph for his newspaper, The Philadelphia Examiner. He then soon learned that the only copy of the photograph had been ruined in an office mishap. Ellis went back to the farmhouse where he took the photo several weeks ago, only to learn that the family had moved on. To avoid having his first byline story on the cutting room floor, Ellis had to think quickly. On a whim, he decided to restage the photograph with two neighboring kids, using the abandoned sign. When he captured young Ruby and Calvin Dillard’s picture and paid their mom Geraldine $2.00, Ellis had no idea how this action was going to alter all of their lives and how he would later be haunted by this impulsive decision. Lily Palmer was a young woman working in a clerical role at the newspaper who had secrets and dreams of her own. She befriended Ellis and joined his quest to right the wrongs that had been the result of his newspaper article.

This book had so many layers. It provided insights into the Great Depression era and the newspaper business. It was a poignant tale of family, loss, love, and secrets. It also demonstrated how one small action could have consequences rippling far beyond where it began. This was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading….it captured my interest right away and kept me interested. It was my first Kristina McMorris novel. Now I want to go back and read everything that she has written!

Ellis Reed, an eager modern young man of his day, decides to seek his fortune in the feisty world of journalism. He starts out as the social page report for a paper in Philadelphia. But the success of his reporting leads to a better job with the Tribune in New York City. On his first day on the job in the city of gangsters, speakeasies and fast-living, Al Capone had just been found guilty of tax evasion. Thomas Edison had just died. Thirty thousand Hitlerites had paraded through Germany and Japan was plowing through Manchuria. And the Great Depression had America in its grip. It was 1931.

A blend of historical fiction and romance, this book will captivate you with its characters and storytelling. The story comes to life when Reporter Ellis takes a photo that he knows will showcase his first feature story- 2 raggedy kids, by a sign “Children for Sale.” But, he later makes a mistake with the photo that sets a tragedy in motion. Pictures, like people, so often were not as they appeared.

Ellis’ co-worker, secretary and hopeful journalist Lily, feels compassion for the children in the photo and encourages Ellis to right the wrong that transpired from his initial mistake with the photo. Lily is smart, skilled, brave and a loving single mother. Many harrowing and exciting events bombard Ellis and Lily as they seek to unravel the mysterious story behind the poor children’s plight.


The historical part of the story is captivating and highly readable. America is coming of age, just as Ellis and Lily are, and we get to see the world through their eyes. The author recreates for us this wild and vigorous world of the 1930’s.
Hope and progress vied with poverty and crime and mobsters and politicians were too often intertwined. Journalists and newspapers shared the stories of the day with exuberance. And American families tried to love and survive. A man’s gotta do what’s best for his family.

The romance part of the story involves Lily, Ellis and Clayton, a successful reporter, described as a thoughtful, successful, dashing man. We also read about the backstories of Ellis and Lily. The romance and the backstories weren’t as compelling for me as the historical story.

Readers, you will keep turning the pages of this book, as it is engaging and suspenseful. I will you decide if the plot is a bit farfetched or if it is just whizbang good storytelling. Recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is my honest review.

Sooo good! I really enjoyed this book. It gives a glimpse into the horrors that befell families after the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. I say a glimpse because this story is told from the point of view of a newspaper reporter and photographer. Ellis Reed finds himself in rural Laurel Township, PA in August of 1931; waiting for his automobile engine to cool down; when he sees two boys sitting on a porch and he snaps a picture of them. Then, the words on the crude wooden sign near the boys registers in his mind and he is appalled.
This seemingly innocuous action will have far reaching consequences. It’s the ripple effect that we so often hear about.
I found this story to be well written. The characters came to life for me. The story conveys the emotions, etiquette, social rules/acceptability of the times and the economic hardships that so many faced. Bravo Kristina McMorris.

The beginning of the book starts with “it all started with a picture”. That in itself got me, throughout the whole book I had that quote in mind but never did expect what would actually transpire. Ellis Reed is a reporter who is struggling to make it big. He doesn’t have much going for him in the way of career or romance but all that changes with, you guessed it, a picture he takes of two kids with a sign that says “children for sale” in the background. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone since I went into this book with a vague idea of what I was getting myself into and I feel like I enjoyed it that much more because of it. Suffice to say that this was a heartbreaking story and a must read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Disclaimer: This was provided as a free ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book certainly was a fun read. Although there were a number of 'improbables' that occurred I still really enjoyed the story and the points the author seemed to be trying to make - or at least points I thought were important. Set during the Big Depression with young men and women trying to become something and others just hoping to survive, the stage was set for some interesting times. The author did a very good job of weaving a tale that allowed all of the characters to intersect.

Confession - I jumped at the chance to read this book based solely on my absolute love for the author's work, particularly The Edge of Lost, which swept me away. I can safely say that Sold on a Monday did not disappoint.

Inspired by a real photograph, the author dives into one truly heartbreaking part of the Great Depression as she creates a story behind the photograph of two small children, shown with a sign for sale. Photographer Ellis Reed is no saint; struggling to get by and move up, he takes a photo and then makes a decision that will haunt him. He is truly flawed, struggling to prove himself to his father and to get ahead, and that is what makes him such a fascinating character for me. He's not bad, but desperation makes people do things they otherwise wouldn't, and some problems take on a life of their own.

Likewise, Lillian Palmer, a secretary at the newspaper that publishes Ellis' photo gets caught up in the drama as he tries to set things right. Her own story is complicated and fascinating, with secrets of her own.

This book offers a little of everything - beautiful prose, a gripping story, a little romance, drama, tension, and an unexpected twist or two.

Fans of historical fiction, this one is for you.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a fictional story based on a situation that faced countless families during the Great Depression where desperation and survival led parents to do anything to save their children. A young reporter takes a shot of two ragged children and a sign that says - children for sale. When the photo becomes famous, which he did not intend to happen, the children are caught in a horrible situation that leads to their being farmed out to two different families. Ellis, the reporter, and Lilly, a secretary and wannabee reporter, will then do anything it takes to recover the children and return them to their mother. Wonderful and heartbreaking, this story will stay with you for a long time. Be sure and read the author's note when you finish to get the background on the photo. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

This book looked like it would be right up my alley so I expected to fall in love with it. I'm not exactly sure where it went wrong for me or why I am not able to be as exited about it as so many other people are. It just felt a bit bland to me. I do love historical fiction, especially stories set around the time of the great depression. This novel delivers that, but I was hoping it would dive more deeply into the ways struggling families lived and survived in such poverty stricken times and less about the personal lives of the photographer and secretary.
3 out of 5 stars

I was happy to read this book since the premise and history was striking. This is a new author to me so I wasn't familiar with her style of writing. I found the book to be slow at times but understand it was because this story takes place over a few cities. One of my major problems was Ellis. He wasn't a man you would like because of his morals. I stopped reading more than once because I felt the characters were just not likeable. I'm glad that I continued to read because as their stories unfolded and getting a better understanding of the time period, it was a wonderful story of love, fear, despair, perseverance, and stubbornness. Ellis in this story learned some valuable lessons and it made him a better man. Lillian learned that forgiving yourself is the first step to living the life you want. This book touches you and is a great read. I recommended it to a friend who is in a book club.

Photography is the art of observation.
Little to do with what you see everything with way you see.

After market crashed in '29, children were sent to relatives, orphanages, or dropped off at churches.
Parents were in desperate situations. Before anyone should judge, they should try to relate and understand.
Reading this book, will give you a story that will captivate you.

A picture is taken
beginning of a journey

1 choice is a link in whole chain of events.

"Sold on a Monday" transports you back to the Great Depression and takes you on a journey that starts when a struggling Philadelphia reporter sees two children on a porch in front of "kids for sale" sign and snaps a picture. From that simple click of the camera, lives as changed forever - when an editor sees the picture and asks for the story behind the photo wheels are put into motion that are difficult to stop. Along the way you are drawn into the stories of the struggling reporter and the ethics & conscience he experience with the choices he makes; the newspaper secretary with dreams of being a journalist while also raising the son that she has "hidden" from her Philly existence; a widow struggling with her health while raising 2 young children; a banker trying to bring his wife back from the abyss after the tragic death of their young daughter; a New York mobster and glimpses of the NY underworld and more.

Reading the description of the photo that Ellis captures on a Sunday afternoon to set this story in motion, I immediately through of the Depression era images of mothers and children captured by Dorthea Lange.

Kristina McMorris does a masterful job of building characters and a construct against the backdrop of the Great Depression and delivers a compelling story that has you engaged to the final pages to see how it resolves and who is able to find happiness. This was my first book by this author and I will definitely look to read more from her.

An e-ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is available on August 28th.