Author Bio:
Pam lives in Indianapolis, IN and writes technical papers for a software company during the day and fiction on weekends. She and her husband, Mark, have three (adult) children, love to camp, and enjoy traveling the small towns of Indiana visiting flea markets.
Book Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3EjKjej
Editorial Review:
Gangsters and banks – were the big topics, well, the only topics. October’s stock market hullabaloo had cast a big, black shadow over the entire city – hell, the whole country, it seemed. And no one knew just how bad this crash, as they called it, was going to be for ordinary folks – and the ones who were already dirt poor, like the immigrants living in Hegeswich. Things couldn’t get much worse than they already were, Stach argued.
Prohibition. Flappers. Floozies. Speakeasies. Bootleggers. Immigrants. Family. Memories. Faith. Tradition. Take all of these, add a dash of mystery, and you have this novel. With the expert storytelling skills of Pam Records, you see the struggles of two sisters, Halina and Patcja, Polish immigrants trying to carve a life in the dangerous South side Chicago Polish slum neighborhood of Hegewisch – and right from the start Ms Record’s unique and provocative writing style sucks you into the story. While the beginning few chapters are a challenge to sort out the actual plot and the inciting incident as you vacillate between characters for each chapter, the immersive prose grips you and never lets go. Her characters are alive and breathing – your heart beats with each of them as their emotions and experiences are splayed on the page in a first-rate, and I must say again, quite unique way. Almost like watching a captivating drama at the movies – one filled with Al Capone’s henchmen lurking in the shadows and a questionable detective peeking around corners.
Seemed someone was always looking over her shoulder, butting in, criticizing, and telling her she wasn’t good enough, smart enough, pretty enough – American enough. Just a dumb Polack.
Both sisters are just trying to survive in a time of distressing poverty, when sometimes all they had to eat was the few eggs from Halina’s chickens running around in the backyard of their Baba’s old creaky (and perhaps haunted) house – which becomes a sort of character of its own as the descriptions of the sounds and sensations raise the hair on the back of your neck. And the author also does an incredible job of weaving the social issues of the time, the racial injustices against Polish immigrants and the steady rise of the Italian gangsters who bullied a lot of the business owners, and the community in general, to submit to their strong-arming ways.
When Patcja’s son, “Little Bear”, is hurt in a street fight, Halina’s nursing skills are put to the test, and she uses the her skills, along with some Old Country cures taught to her by her Baba, to help her nephew while her sister is embroiled in the secrets hidden in her basement at the joint she runs called “The Corner”. The tension escalates as the detective noses around asking questions while the booze wars between vying bootleggers increases. The challenges force both women to confront their own secrets, and Halina must face these head-on as she fights to save Patcja’s 10-year-old son. This is truly a study in characterization and it is done with finesse and an incredibly astute knowledge of the human mind; not only that but the expert way the author develops the story and delivers it into a work of art is simply amazing and captivating.
Again, the characterization is perfection, itself, and not only is the main character fully fleshed out, but as a reader you come to know each and every character in a very authentic way, even the secondary ones such as Halina’s crazy mother, Mary, to the little boy she is trying to save - (he may be small, but he has seen more than most kids his age, and already has a taste for cigarettes over candy any day, not to mention his desire to join up with Capone’s gang when he’s a bit older).
“Oh, golly! Oh, boy!” he said, remembering to put a cheeky squeal in his tone. Adults liked a giddy kid, he knew; and was happy to play along for them. He didn’t really give a hockey puck about penny candy, never developed a taste for sweets. But some cigarettes would be nice.
The puzzle of the storyline fits together, piece by piece, and emerges in an effective way, albeit a slightly tangled way which unravels as the chapters progress. This vexing approach to storytelling almost prompted me put the book down as I could not grasp, initially, what the story was about. But keep reading, you will not be disappointed as you, the reader, peer from the shadows to see how things turn out for Halina and Patcja. Once reeled into the storyline, I could not put it down until I read the last line, and I am intrigued to read more from this author.
“Trapped in Glass” earns five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award from The Historical Fiction Company.
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