All Jo Kuan wants to do is make hats. However, her race has made that impossible when she's fired from Ms. English's hat shop and forced to return to a job that she despises: working as a lady's maid to Caroline Payne, who's determined to make Jo's life a living hell. Additionally, Jo and her caretaker, Uncle Gin, live underneath the Bell family, who publishes a newspaper that has seen better times. Feeling obligated to come to their aid, Jo becomes the pseudonymous author of an advice column known as Dear Miss Sweetie.

The story follows Jo as she sees instances of injustice and pens her frustrations as Miss Sweetie. This gains the interest of Atlanta, especially the women, who come to identify with Jo's persona. Of course, the audience believes that Ms. Sweetie is a genteel Southern lady, which only adds to the story. There's also a horse race sponsored by Mrs. Payne and a crook named Billy Riggs, who threatens to uproot everything that Jo holds dear.

Threaded throughout the story is racism. The story is backdropped against the suffragette movement and Lee takes this opportunity to show the toxicity of white feminism. Suffragettes are shown to only have an interest in earning the <i>white</i> women's vote but still rely on the work of black and minority women to accomplish this. Lee also demonstrates the clear distinction between white and black folk and how the Chinese are often overlooked in this equation. This is shown through the segregation laws of the streetcars and how Old Gin and Jo cannot sit on the car at all because they are not white or black. While not the primary focus, this book showcases that are often overlooked in historical fiction and voices that have been heard before.

Jo Kuan lives with Old Gin in an old abolitionist's den in the basement of a printer's office. She has a good life for a Chinese girl in the early 1900's in the South--she works for a milliner, and she has an unparalleled eye for fashion and a sharp tongue. When she is fired for being Chinese, however, she must return the Payne Estate, where she spent her childhood, and work as a lady's maid for Caroline, the Paynes' cruel daughter. However, she finds an unexpected bright spot by writing as Miss Sweetie, an anonymous columnist and "agony aunt" for the newspaper that is printed above her secret home.
I always tell my fellow librarians that Stacey Lee can do no wrong, and she's struck gold again with THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL. Jo was whip-smart, wise beyond her years, and never daunted, and she is exactly the kind of character I love to root for. I will definitely be purchasing this and recommending it to all the fans of historical fiction that I know!

THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL by Stacey Lee (Under a Painted Sky and Outrun the Moon) is a work of historical fiction in which readers definitely will experience 1890 Atlanta with all of its gender, race, and social class biases. The main character is Jo Kuan, a seventeen-year-old Chinese orphan who lives with her guardian, Old Gin, in a basement hideout formerly on the underground railroad. She wants to be a milliner and has obvious skills until she is abruptly dismissed for making some of the white patrons "uncomfortable." Next, it is on to being a lady's maid for a rather spoiled young woman at an estate where Old Gin helps to care for the horses. In an effort to save a local newspaper, Jo also starts writing an advice column, signing her letters as Miss Sweetie and cleverly tackling questions related to beauty, social mores and "newfangled machinery" like bicycles. Even though THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL is set in a time and place with which our students will have little affinity, I think they will readily relate to Jo's spirit – she is optimistic, resourceful and daring – a real "saucebox" with an independent streak. And the cover is beautiful and eye catching!

THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL received multiple starred reviews (Booklist, Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal) – expect this title to appear on award lists, too.

In this wonderfully crafted historical fiction, Jo Kuan is a Chinese American living in 1890s Atlanta. She gets fired from her hat job just because she’s Chinese and secretly lives below a family of journalists with her adoptive father Old Gin. Soon, Jo works as a Lady’s maid for the temperamental Caroline who tortured her as a young girl. Then, she begins secretly writing under the pseudonym Miss Sweetie for the newspaper family she’s watched from the shadows.

In her column that begins to take Atlanta by storm, Jo makes controversial statements about race and gender and everyone wants to know who the real Miss Sweetie actually is. Meanwhile, Jo also goes on a journey of self-discovery. Who are her parents? Why was she abandoned? The story is truly engrossing from start to finish with good writing and excellent characterization. Everyone just feels three dimensional and real. Furthermore, it’s clear this was thoroughly researched because Stacey Lee transports us so easily to the Gilded Age of the South. All the little details make the novel even more authentic. I honestly had no idea about Chinese Americans in the South. It’s a new topic and the novel captures the era beautifully.

As for the romance, it's not exactly the focus. What is there, is super sweet and offers us old-fashioned romantic moments that are a nice touch to this lovely historical novel. I strongly recommend this one to all historical fiction readers.

What an amazing historical fiction novel! I have not read anything by Stacey Lee before, but I want to read all her books, now!

Not only does this story address a specific aspect of history that is very seldom covered, it is done in a way that feels meaningful and true. The diversity in this book is another lovely touch that adds authenticity and a breath of fresh air. I loved getting to learn about this amazing cast of diverse characters, of seeing the main character, Jo, not only fight her own battles, but also receive strength and guidance from others. The strong females in this book made me so happy! Lee did an amazing job bringing these women and their stories to life.

I could not put this book down! The pacing, the story itself, and the serious topics, laced with humor to break them up, made for a fantastic read. I was so absorbed by the story! I didn't want it to end.

This book is a great choice for readers who love historical fiction, diverse reads, or those looking for a strong female protagonist who faces real-life struggles. This book is relatable and feels so authentic. I highly recommend reading it!

While I profess to love both Historical Fiction and Young Adult novels somehow I have yet to come across a book by Stacey Lee and now that I have read one - I need to dig up more! The pace was quick and easy to devour and the dialogue was deliciously snappy. I do have to say that the phrase "saucebox" will have to enter my own personal lexicon. I also loved the little quirks of character such as writing down new words and definitely identify with Jo's thirst for knowledge. I appreciated that while the story didn't necessarily focus primarily on the important issues of the time but also that it didn't ignore them. A wonderful read for a variety of ages. Definitely recommended!

For the most part I really enjoyed this book, and I like the main character, Jo, a lot. The pace was quick, and I was engaged in Jo’s story. Occasionally I found the writing style distracting though. I’d be reading along and there would be a sentence that popped me out of the story.

Still, I did like it, and I would recommend it to others who enjoy historical fiction.

Absolutely gorgeous prose. Stacey Lee infuses her historical setting with fresh, honest emotion. Five stars.

Jo Kuan lives a hidden life. She isn't sure of her parentage, and as the daughter of a Chinese immigrant, she doesn't fit neatly into the racial divisions in the post-Civil War society of Atlanta. Her quick wit coupled with her opinions make her a natural--if anonymous--contributor to the local newspaper. Jo is a memorable character surrounded by equally fascinating characters. Lee's writing is flawless providing readers a sense of place in Atlanta while confronting racism in nuanced ways.

When I read the description for The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee and decided to request it, I expected something along the lines of Downtown Abbey in Atlanta with a dash of feminism, race relations, and American history. I was pleasantly surprised to be almost entirely wrong about those ratios. Instead, this YA historical drama is just a smidge of class divisions and skirmishes between servants and their employers added to a story all about racial and gender inequalities in American society, the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the South in the 1890s, and a clever girl questioning and defying the restrictions set by her society.

Jo Kuan is the daughter of an unknown Chinese immigrant, born in America but without any sort of documentation to support that fact. She has grown up living in a hidden set of rooms underneath a local newspaper printer and working for one of Atlanta’s wealthiest families. After her job with a haberdasher falls through, Jo finds herself back working for the family that dismissed her without any explanation, serving as a lady’s maid for the spoiled girl who made their shared childhood a misery. Then, when falling subscriptions threaten the business of the newspaper printer above Jo’s home, Jo is inspired to submit an anonymous advice column to stir interest and draw in readers. As she finds her voice through her column as “Miss Sweetie,” Jo navigates increasing racial tensions, the budding women’s suffrage movement, and a mysterious debt that threatens the only family she has ever known.

I truly love Jo’s voice. She’s opinionated, blunt, and sarcastic, sharing her thoughts on the world around her even when discretion might be safer. Even without the main plot of the book, I might have been entirely happy to just follow Jo around Atlanta and listen to her commentary on the people and society around her. Most chapters open with an exchange from the advice column that Jo operates under the pseudonym “Miss Sweetie” and her advice is both insightful and hilarious.

The subplot with Billy Riggs and the mystery around a letter that may connect to Jo’s parents were initially less compelling. I kept waiting for them to be over so the book could get back to more interesting elements of the story, but the moment when it all came together was so satisfying and brought all the preceding plot elements into perspective.

Finally, The Downstairs Girl is a fantastic addition to own voices young adult fiction. When I think back to the historical fiction that I have read in the past, so many seem to either forget that non-white people existed or stick them in at the fringes. Even books that acknowledge the long history of African-Americans tend to leave out Chinese Americans and how they fit into America’s fraught race relations and the systemic discrimination against non-white Americans. As a Chinese-American, Jo Kuan isn’t considered either white or black, but somewhere in between for the purposes of social rules like where to sit on the streetcar. She can’t legally rent or own a residence, has trouble finding work because of employers’ reluctance to hire her, and can’t legally marry anyone but another Chinese-American or Chinese immigrant. It’s fascinating to follow a protagonist through a part of American history that my classes never covered, and Jo’s story draws you in and keeps you invested down to the last page.

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee is a gift to literature!
I loved every minute of this book so much, my heart is so full after reading it! It just hits every spot and I highly recommend it to everyone, specially if you love historical fiction!

The writing of Ms. Lee was beautiful, deeply moving and just a masterpiece!
I loved the MC, Jo, so much! She is the kind of gal that you just connect with from the very beginning, specially for me it was easy to connect with her because I used to do journalism in high school and so I could connect to her in that way. The "Dear, Miss Sweetie," column was such a unique aspect of this book, I hadn't read a book with something like this before and so it hooked me from the very beginning!

I also really liked that the author tackled important topics like racism in this book because it's a very real thing and it was important for the time period that the book takes place during.

One of the best book's I've read all year, The Downstairs Girl hits all the right spots and then some!

I love when historical fiction tells the story of minorities. This author does it so well. The story has some twists and turns I fully did not expect and they work so well. I will read and order anything from this author in the future.

Another historical masterpiece that takes place in the Reconstruction Atlanta with a Chinese-American young woman who bucks the system. Jo Kuan works as a ladies maid in a house where she grew up but where she was considered a childhood friend she is clearly now a servant. She takes this in stride and puts her energy into other secret projects like writing an advice column under the name "Miss Sweetie" for the newspaper located where she and her adopted grandfather live. I loved this independent young woman who had to fight racial and sex discrimination in post-war Atlanta and didn't take no for an answer. This novel works well for adults, young adults, and ambitious middle school readers. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

It's the turn of the 19th Century and Jo Kuan is a young girl just trying to get by in life as undetected as possible. She and her surrogate father, Old Gin, are one of few Chinese living in Atlanta in a sort of in-between state: not treated as badly as the African-Americans but certainly nowhere near the privilege of whites. After unjustly losing her job making hats, Jo is taken on as a lady's maid for the vicious daughter of one of the wealthiest men in town. While she spends her days being berated, she spends her nights pseudonymously penning the wildly popular newspaper advice column, "Dear Miss Sweetie", where she tackles the hot topics of societal norms.

After coming across a mysterious letter, Jo embarks on another quest: uncovering the family who abandoned her and discovering who she really is. When her investigation puts her in the sights of a notorious criminal, and the fevered backlash from her articles causes everyone to seek out who the real Miss Sweetie is, Jo must decide if she's strong enough to finally step out of the shadows and into the light.

I absolutely adored this book. It was insightful and brilliantly written, and I appreciated how Lee didn't sugarcoat anything so it felt very true to the time period. Jo was such a confident, determined character and I really felt for her. I found myself getting mad or celebrating her small victories along with her. The arc that her character goes on throughout the story is so powerful. By the end, she really knows who she is and is secure in it. I also really enjoyed the side characters, especially Noemi and Nathan and even Bear. There were also twists in this book that I didn't see coming, which I always love. This was a book that I started recommending to people before I even finished it. If you're a fan of historical fiction or strong female leads, definitely check this one out.

Colorful and interesting look at a well-covered time period of the American South. Written with charm and whit, the book quickly turns into a page turner. It will be a popular recommended read item.

I love how this is written, and I adore books that will take you to another time and place. Wasnt hard to follow and captured my attention. I was pleased with this book and hope to read more from Stacey Lee

Stacey Lee does it again! Her books are always excellent, but I especially enjoyed the characters in this one.

LOVED it! Jo has such a unique view of life. She's brave, wise, and likable. One of the best things about her is that she doesn't always get things right but keeps trying. Secrets abound and plot twists keep the story moving and interesting. Great read!

Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is Chinese and lives in Atlanta. When her dream of becoming a milliner falls apart, she must remain a lady’s maid for the daughter of a very wealthy man. But, at night she becomes Miss Sweetie, an advice columnist for southern ladies. After Miss Sweetie establishes trust with her readers, she starts asking them to challenge antiquated customs and beliefs with mixed responses. When subscriptions start to rise, she must try even harder to keep her secret identity a secret. After all who would take advice from an unmarried Chinese girl who likes to ride bikes? Join our unlikely heroine in the gilded age of horses and suffragettes as she discovers who she really is.

This was a fun and comical book exploring womanhood during a time of change. Jo will keep readers wondering what will happen to her and what they might not know. The southern twist is a proper and feisty look at racism, woman’s rights, and societal norms. Fans of Elizabeth Wein or Stacey Lee’s other novels will love this book.

What a beautiful book! I've been a big fan of Stacey Lee's previous novels, and this might be her best yet. Our heroine, Jo, is vibrant, smart, and easy to root for. The plot moves along with lots of surprises, the characters feel like friends, and there were so many passages worth highlighting for their wit, wisdom, or just to admire the writing. I'm so happy I got to preview this title.