Reflections - Girl Waits with Gun

The title of Amy Stewert’s historical fiction novel, Girl Waits with Gun, puzzled me until I discovered it was an actual headline from 1915. Stewart researched primary sources for her story so the main structure is true. Three sisters were driving their buggy when a silk factory owner’s automobile hit them. The man harasses the women. Stewart includes actual newspaper stories to move the plot. She adds embellishments like giving Norma pigeons. Norma attaches headlines to the pigeons’ feet and sends them home.

Pigeons were such a focus that I pondered one of the sisters being kidnapped and sending the clue to her whereabouts via pigeon. No sister is kidnapped. No pigeons come to the rescue. The hobby is a red herring.

Other parts were foreshadowed heavily too. Constance, the POV character and oldest sister, is actually the teenage mother of Fleurette. Society thinks Fleurette is the daughter of Constance’s mother. Another part of heavy foreshadowing is that Constance would become a Deputy Sheriff. I was hoping all of Fleurette’s sewing skills would land her a seamstress job. They didn’t.

The novel flows with a smooth storytelling voice. Stewart also develops well rounded characters. Practical, no-nonsense Norma raises pigeons for a hobby and disapproves of Constance solving mysteries. Seventeen year-old Fleurette is naive and fanciful. She creates plays, sews, fashions, and longs for adventure. The sheriff works tirelessly for justice and protects the three sisters. He’s like a father-figure or older brother. Frances, the actual brother, disapproves of his sisters living on their own and complains he hears news from the sisters in the paper.

Even though the girls carry guns, I looked forward to reading a chapter or two of Girl Waits with Gun each night.

 Reflections - Midnight:Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning

The afternoon of August 25, 2019, I attended a JASNA meeting at the Orange Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Victoria Shorr talked about her book, Midnight: Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning. Though I enjoyed the talk, I didn’t “buy” the book until September 25 that year when I chose it as one of my “rewards” for helping Jennifer pack for the October AGM [Annual General Meeting]. I put the book in my stack of books to read.

The book is classified as a biography but reads like a novel. Shorr’s storytelling pulls the reader into the drama. Her research makes events come to life.

The first section relates Jane Austen changing her mind about accepting Harris Bigg-Wither’s proposal. I’d long known about that decision and was thankful for her choice because it meant Jane would write instead of run a household. Shorr adds details I hadn’t known. Jane had her own bedroom that night so her sister and her friends were not with Jane to calm her when doubts arose. Shorr ratchets up tension by putting the decision into perspective with Jane's whole life—contrasting Jane’s poverty with her relatives’ wealth and underscoring society’s expectations for her.

The second section follows Mary Shelley. She had a horrible life. Unlike Jane’s story, where I knew what the hour of reckoning meant, I didn’t realize Mary’s until the end. She faced too many hardships. Her story starts and ends with Mary waiting for Shelley to return via boat. While she waits, she bleeds as a consequence of a pregnancy. Shorr then tells the backstory of Mary's life. The end culminates with Shelley dying at sea.

In the third section, Joan of Arc, the decision is obvious again. When Joan is about to be burned at the stake, she confesses she’s been a heretic to save her life. She trades her pants for a dress and expects to be imprisoned by the churches. That doesn’t happen. Guards beat her. During the week, though, she reflects and gains back her courage. She’s burned a week later. The inner thoughts Shorr records for Joan are awesome and come from records of the trials.

Jane Austen has my gratitude. Mary Shelley has my sympathies. Joan of Arc has my admiration, Victoria Shorr has my endorsement. Midnight: Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning is a fascinating read.