Book Blurb:
The day hinted of spring long overdue. It was March 25, 1911. In Greenwich Village, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was on fire. Nell Walker witnesses young girls jumping to their deaths to flee the flames blocking their escape. The raging inferno kills 146 and sparks an ember in Nell that burns. She vows that the world she lives in must change-a world divided by class, color, and the desires of the heart.
A brave, charming, yet fiercely independent woman, Nell leaves the comfort of her brownstone in New York City to reveal the desperate lives of women and children working in the stifling factories and canneries of upstate New York. Exposing herself to real danger, her reporting introduces her to the headline grabbers of the emerging labor movement and to a reporter with a camera who brings light and shadow to his work and her life.
It is the dawn of a new century. A time when women marched in picket lines, shortened their hemlines, and fought to have their voices heard.
Choosing Herself is Nell's story. Told in her own words, it is the tale of a woman playing the hand she is dealt and willing to take the gamble on where her life will lead.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/LxvrgI
Editorial Review:
Editorial Review: “Choosing Herself”
Author: Maureen Reid
“Mama was light. When she entered a room, it was altered—candle flames burned more brightly, logs on the fire snapped a bit more merrily, women stared, and men stood straighter. She never noticed. Holding my hand, she would look for my father. We were the only world she wanted, just the three of us. A trinity that becomes one, she used to say. Three persons in one, the one was our family.
I was fourteen when the coughing started.
The blood stained her crisp white handkerchiefs. First, there were only drops. As the weeks went on, no amount of scrubbing could remove the red stains. These pieces of cloth became the symbols of her defeat, her flag of surrender. The illness had her in its grip, shrinking her, robbing me of both her and my father in the process.”
Nell Morgan is a cosseted daughter, and the center of her loving parents’ existence. It’s the early 1900s in Philadelphia, United States of America, and a privileged existence beckons. But then, in “Choosing Herself” by Maureen Reid, things change, and Nell must learn to cope with a grieving, distant father and a cold aunt who sees her as a burden. Nell’s life looks like it may go the way of many young women of her age and class, as passivity and hopelessness crush the independent spirit within. Married life is not all it seems, and many a modern reader may rail at Nell’s lot in life, financially stable though it may be.
“The dressmaker, Mme. Brodeur, came two afternoons a week with her pins and silks, poking me in places where I had never been touched by someone other than Mama. She called my figure exquisite and my coloring a joy to dress. The price I paid for such compliments was to stand motionless for hours on end, like a doll being fitted for her place on a shelf. My afternoons were spent mastering the latest dance steps, practicing how and when to courtesy, and learning how to plan a formal dinner party. I thought it all quite foolish, but I was a pawn, and Aunt Helena the chess master.”
Told in the first person from Nell’s point of view, there is emotion throughout the story as Nell grapples with the implications of her mother’s illness and the absence of any one else who cares enough to provide meaningful parental guidance at crucial times. And then, things change again. In this novel of female and individual empowerment (whether attempted or actual) it is horribly symbolic that the catalyst for change within the novel is New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911).
“To describe Rachel is hard. She is one of those women whose intellect is heralded by the look in her eyes, the gestures she uses to make a point, her ability to end a sentence that makes you want to hear the next one. Broad-shouldered and barely reaching five feet, her dark brown eyes are the passageway to her soul.
From the beginning, Rachel was a leading figure among a network of radical women: reformers with open minds and unwavering convictions to make the world a better place. Outspoken and determined to exercise the freedom she and the others were clamoring to win, Rachel opened my mind and my consciousness. She was more than a mentor, she was my friend.”
Nell’s character arc is superbly crafted, as she develops from a protected daughter to a young woman who must negotiate for her freedom and what she wants to achieve. The story and Nell’s level of agency remains realistic, as Nell stays within the confines of her life, although her discussion with her mother-in-law is particularly powerful. The novel moves to World War Two, and Nell must once again grapple with forces outside of her control, both personally and internationally. “Choosing Herself” also focuses on changing social attitudes, particularly for women.
The storyline within the novel moves rapidly and across several decades, providing the reader with a compelling insight into how Nell (and other women of her time) would balance pragmatism with dreams, and what the modern reader would see as normal goals and hopes. Because the story is told through Nell’s eyes only, her aunt’s backstory (and her aunt’s dynamic with her father) remains somewhat unclear, but it can likely be guessed at with some degree of accuracy.
“Choosing Herself” by Maureen Reid is a highly emotional read (tissues are required!) as Nell struggles to assert herself in her childhood house, in her marriage, and in her adult life. Her success varies, but that makes this story all the more compelling as the reader silently wishes for better for Nell in any or all aspects of her life. In writing such a novel Reid has crafted an evocative insight into the life and times of women of that era in East Coast America, and while Nell may be relatively privileged, mention of the awful legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire underscores the tragic loss of other women in the community who did not have either financial or personal security. Definitely a novel that will linger in the reader’s mind!
*****
"Choosing Herself” by Maureen Reid receives 4 ½ stars from The Historical Fiction Company
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