Sold on a Monday

My Rating: ★★★★★

Publisher: Landmark

Release Date: August 28, 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes the story behind the picture is worth a thousand more…

Philadelphia, 1931. A young, ambitious reporter named Ellis Reed photographs a pair of young siblings on the front porch of a farmhouse next to a sign: “2 children for sale.”

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 photograph also leads to consequences more devastating than ever imagined—and it will take jeopardizing everything Ellis and Lily value to unravel the mystery and set things right.

Inspired by an actual newspaper photo that stunned readers throughout the country, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of ambition, redemption, love, and family.

My Review ♥️

The Great Depression was a tumultuous time in our nation's history. Out of desperation, people did things that, under different circumstances, they would never do. In 1931, on a hot summer day in Pennsylvania, a newspaper reporter takes an innocent picture that sparks a chain of events that is a complete game changer.

Children for sale. It's a concept that is unfathomable to many of us, but no one really understands unless you're put in a dire situation. It is the choice that one mother makes for her two beautiful children, for her own personal reasons, despite many judging her. While this family deals with the effects of that choice Ellis, the reporter responsible for the photo, becomes famous overnight, and completely changes his life.

The fact that Ellis's success came at the expense of this family being torn apart, and two children being sold, gnaws at Ellis until he cannot take it anymore. Ellis, and his friend and fellow co-worker Lily, vow to do everything they can to make sure the children are safe in their new home. It is this choice that begins an investigation that leads both Ellis and Lily down a dark and unexpected path.

Though Sold on a Monday took a different turn than what I had originally thought, I really enjoyed all the twists and surprises. The suspense made me unable to turn the pages fast enough, and the ending did not disappoint. Well written, Kristina McMorris knows how to draw her reader in and not let go until the very end. A few instances of foul language is my only complaint about the book, but that's the newspaper biz, so I had to brush it off despite not liking that component.

You really feel like you're there for every moment, giving you a taste of some of the effects of the Great Depression. 2 children for sale. Sad indeed.

Get to Know Author Kristina McMorris

Kristina McMorris is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her novels have garnered more than two dozen literary awards and nominations, including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, RWA's RITA Award, and a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. Inspired by true personal and historical accounts, her works of fiction have been published by Sourcebooks Landmark, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Kensington Books.

Prior to her writing career, she hosted weekly TV shows since age nine, including an Emmy Award-winning program. She lives with her husband and two sons in Oregon, where she is working on her next novel.

Connect with Kristina McMorris Online

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*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Landmark Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.