During a time when almost the entire nation was in dire straits from the Great Depression, many did not have jobs, a place to live or enough food to eat. This story begins with a picture taken of two young children sitting on a porch with a sign stating they were for sale. As Ellis Reed, a struggling newspaper reporter sees the children, he can’t help but take their picture. It somehow makes its way to his Chief, who wants an article to publish in the paper. Due to various circumstances, he has to obtain another picture immediately for the paper which is the beginning of some terrible circumstances. As the story progresses, Ellis struggles between his ambition and his need to make things right, no matter the cost.

We also meet Lily Palmer, who is the secretary for the Chief at the newspaper, and who longs to be able to write for the paper. As a woman in 1931, she is dismissed unless she wants to write for the women’s fashion or other sections. She lives in a boarding house while also hiding a secret from everyone.

The description of Ellis’s boarding house was so depressing with tiny rooms, thin walls, and numerous people who had nowhere else to live, waiting in long lines for the one bathroom. Even for those with jobs, it was a difficult time.

This story reminded me of the vulnerability of the extreme poor and those considered less than by many people. I read the author’s notes on how she saw a photo from the 1940’s with children on a porch and a sign that said they were for sale, which triggered the basis for this book. At first I couldn’t understand why parents were selling their children versus finding someone that could take care of them, but they were starving. “Even decent, well-meaning people could make poor choices under pressure.”

I enjoyed the story setting of Philadelphia and New York City along with the very rich who could get away with anything, mafia-types, prohibition, and difficult to start crank cars. Many people bought and sold these children, not as family, but to work almost like slaves with horrible living conditions and treatment.

Although at times it was slow reading, this is a compelling, well written story that has enough suspense to keep you reading, while also thinking of honor, ethics, society stigma’s and desperation. It was interesting and horrifying to read about the ‘breaker boys’ that worked in the coal mines before child labor laws were enacted, and the injuries and deaths that occurred. The story makes me appreciate our modern conveniences and better job opportunities for women.

This story has a subtle romance aspect with Lily, Ellis and another reporter, all whom worked at the newspaper in Philadelphia. It’s not the main aspect of the story but comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for allowing me the opportunity to read this new work.

A fast paced read centering on a photo and two young journalists. There are consequences when a photo gets published in a newspaper. The rich details of the period made you feel like you were right with our star crossed lovers. If you like historical fiction and bit of intrique and romance, this book is for you. It is also very relavent today when truth in news or fake news is discussed.

I don't like that prologue that starts the book. I would rather not know where the book was headed. I started liking the characters and then I started to see where they were headed and I didn't like the choices that they made. It didn't draw me to find out more like some other books instead I wanted to stop reading.

This story is an agonizing, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, emotional journey. Kristina McMorris immerses us within a period of history with such precision that I not only understood the desperation of the times, but I experienced it.

We have two narrating characters, and both are fully developed, step-off-the-pages human beings. Reed is a young man struggling to make it in journalism, while still holding on to his sense of morality. Lily is a young woman pushing ever so slightly but steadily against the boundaries set for women of her time.

McMorris provides just the right amount of details. All those little things that place us in a setting and activate our senses are sprinkled throughout. I felt like I was there - on the dirt roads, in the news office, at the deli - but I never felt the story was bogged down by too much detail.

The plight of the children is handled exceptionally well. I saw a few reviewers mentioned they wanted more from the kids, but I thought the balance was just right. Their situation is horrifying, and I didn't need to dwell there to feel it.

The pace is steady, though more of a slow burn. The content has a literary feel, with the focus on getting to know the characters so we understand their motivations and so we care about the outcome.

A couple of dramatic twists occur in the last quarter of the book, adding more layers of realism to a story set in a difficult historical period. This is a story that will stick with me for a long time.

This was a fascinating look at how newspaper publishing in the early 1900s worked. It also offered a glimpse into the desperation felt by people in different circumstances, whether that desperation was because of finances, fear, status, judgement, etc. That common sense of desperation was woven through the entire story, and the author did a wonderful job of showing how happenstance can have lasting effects on many people in so many unforeseen ways.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my kindle.
Desperation due to poverty or illness sometimes makes one do things a mother would never think of doing, but there are other circumstances that are part of this story.
Overall, an easy and sweet read.

Sold on a Monday is a well written novel with a good plot and well developed characters. I enjoyed the author's style of writing. I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

4 stars

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.

Sold on A Monday by Kristina McMorris is a deeply moving story. The author has weaved a tale with captivating characters that draw you in from the very beginning. This is a tale of the Great Depression and people doing what they have to in order to survive. This book really surprised me, as it was not at all what I thought it was going to be. Sold On A Monday is just one of those incredibly rare books that encourage the reader to try and read it in just one setting. It is just so very difficult to put down!
I highly recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #SoldonaMonday #NetGalley

The consequences of a photograph can change lives in many ways. Lilly only meant to help get Ellis career started as a journalist but mishaps led to a change in a printed photo. This started a chain of events that affected many lives.

McMorris, Kristina
SOLD ON A MONDAY

Hard times, hard choices, and the courage to try to make things right. SOLD ON MONDAY is a compelling saga of mistakes and misunderstandings, and love and loyalty and dreams of happiness. I don’t know how I didn’t know of Kristina McMorris already, but I do want to read so much more of her beautiful writing.
It all started with a photograph, in real life as inspiration for the book and in the fictional tale that kept me reading and ignoring all else. People, with all their faults and frailties, so real I really cared about them as they moved through so many twists and turns and dangers.
Lily Palmer wants to be the next Nellie Bly, but is hired as a secretary, bringing “the Chief” his coffee properly cooled to lukewarm — woman’s work (even in the ‘70s want ads specified men/women, and most female college grads became secretaries). Ellis Reed dreams of front page bylines, but is relegated to writing about and photographing society event — also “woman’s work,” so humiliating to him and his desire to impress his father, but in the Depression, one didn’t turn down work, any work.
What’s a little deception if it furthers his honorable goals? What if children suffer for it? What if amends can be made? Is it worth the risks involved? Is there even a chance of succeeding against the rich and powerful? Some of these issues resonate strongly in present time.
Lily’s mother’s question, “You’ll be fine, but will you be happy?” Both, please. <3

Sold On a Monday is a novel based on a tragic, depressing time in history. A photographer happens upon a scene that shocks him. Off a porch in a rural house stands a sign “2 children for sale”. Could the parents really be so desperate as to sell their children? He snaps the picture and develops it. A co-worker sees the photo, shows it to her boss, and suddenly this becomes a full story. But what exactly is the truth? How are the children in the story? How are the parents impacted? Did they truly feel desperate enough to sell their own children to strangers? And how can good come from such a heartbreaking offer to sell your own flesh and blood?

Strong characters make you feel the tug on their hearts. I found myself pushing them to acknowledge their part and do all they could to get more information and make things right. This historical fiction stays with you long after the cover is closed.

“Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the ones we love...”

[The detective pulled a chair over to me in the hospital.] I heard, "Can you tell me how it all started?" The reporter in my head blended with the detective before me. I wasn't entirely sure which of them had asked...
I nodded at him slowly, remembering as I replied.

"It started with a picture."

Sold on a Monday, like many popular works of historical fiction set in the 1930's Great Depression is based on an iconic photograph. My favorite being, Mary Coin by Marissa Silver based on Dorothy Lange's photograph entitled, Migrant Mother. Sold on a Monday was inspired by a photograph (later questioned as authentic) of a mother and four children on a porch. A sign near them reads - 4 children for sale, inquire within.

Author, Kristina McMorris, nudged by the writer's innate question..".what if"... has created a world where a dramatic photograph, taken for personal use by a newspaper reporter on his own time, is found drying in the darkroom by the editor's secretary, Lily Palmer. The moving picture shows two children near a sign reading - "2 children for sale. Recognizing the work of Ellis Reed, Lily shows the photo to the editor.

The editor, recognizing the dramatic impact the picture will have on newspaper readers, instructs Ellis to write a story about it. Sniffing a chance to advance himself, perhaps leading to his own column, Ellis obliges. Puffed up proud, Ellis is brought down quickly when he is told that the negative and photo have been damaged and he must replace it immediately. Returning to the house, he finds the sign leaning against the porch and the family gone. (We never learn what happened to the original family; something that nagged at me long after I finished the book.)

In that instant he panics. He spots 2 children playing nearby at another house. Grabbing the "children for sale" sign, and with their mother's reluctant permission along with a handful of money, Ellis stages a new photo. Thus begins a spiral of disquiet that follows Ellis into his new career at a larger newspaper; a success launched by this story. As he rises in notoriety, he is constantly aware it is based on a lie. Lily, also observes, he has lost that special something that reaches the common man.

Lily Palmer, harboring a deep secret of her own, is reminded time and again of the deception when letters and gifts continually arrive at her newspaper for the exposed children. The gifts and letters are placed on the porch in the dead of night, the deliverers unable to face the family. The innocent children were never for sale.

After a time, and independently, Ellis and Lily seek to find out what consequences their individual actions have had on that misused family. They are both rocked to learn that the mother has been confined to a sanitarium and has died. The children were placed in an orphanage. The now infamous photograph led to the sale of the two children to a wealthy family.

Using his newspaper network, Ellis finds the family and scouts the new home. Peering through a window, he spots the young girl, Ruby, neatly dressed, and sitting near a smiling woman. He believes he hears a young a boy giggling in another room.

He tells Lily that all seems wonderful at first glance. But further efforts reveal that appearances don't necessarily define reality. Ellis and Lily set out to right their consciences and dredge up darkness they never dreamed possible. Their lives and the lives of the children are in danger.

Sold on a Monday is a fabulous 1930's era "Agatha Christie" mystery with some really sharp edges. The suspense moves slowly at first, careers sputter, personal relationships simmer, and all along we are aware that this is the Great Depression. Desperate times where desperation can lead a person to the "Dark Side." The novel does come to a spectacular moment that then settles down to a "happily-ever-after" finish.

Good read for a rainy day!
ARC provided by Sourcebook Landmark and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Rated: 4 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed "Sold on a Monday." While the subject content was at times unpleasant, McMorris did a masterful job of weaving the story and allowing the reader to connect with the characters. Learning about the history involved in the story was a bonus.

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes a true depression-era photograph about a family selling their children and contextualizes and expands it.

As a mother myself it was so horrifying to read, and yet absolutely amazing.

I could not get over my love for it, and read it all in one sitting on a plane - which is basically the dream.

A must-read!

This is a heartbreaking and poignant story, especially because it is based on an actual photograph taken during the great Depression. The author did a great job of melding this tragedy with the lives of the fictitious photographer and budding journalist. The plot was well paced with outstanding descriptions of desperation and hopelessness. .

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book to me for review.

Set during the Great Depression, a young reporter for a newspaper, Ellis Reed, captures a picture of two children for sale that captures the hearts of readers. Through a lapse in judgement and a series of unexpected events, this results in unexpectedly consequences.. Ellis befriends secretary Lillian Palmer, who feels some responsibility for Ellis' plight having recommended his picture to the chief. Together the two try to undo the damage caused by the photo and along the way better understand themselves.. This story captured my interest and transported me to an interesting historical time period. It felt like watching an old black and white movie as the story, setting, characters, and the language all fit together.

Sold on a Monday is one of my favorite types of books; it both entertained me and taught me something new. The book takes place during the Great Depression. I’ve read other books with this era as a setting, but not one that so clearly showed me what lengths people may have to go to in order to survive. Can you imagine what it would be like to feel that your only option would be to sell your children?
Alongside this historical setting was a great story that included suspense, action, and a bit of romance. What a joy to be along for the ride as Ellis and Lillian try to right a wrong that was done to a mother and her two vulnerable children. Just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore exciting, it did! I highly recommend this book.

Historical fiction inspired by a true story of hard times and children sold for money. Sold on a Monday seemed a little slow in the beginning but quickly turned into a fast very paced story with exciting twists and turns. Set in 1931 in Philadelphia and New York area this story is full of crime, poverty, evil, life during the depression, gangsters, and a few decent people. Well worth the read for the historical perspectives but the thrills and suspense just make this book a very good read. My thanks to the author, the publisher and netgalley for making this book available for me to read and review.

I was very much looking forward to reading this and it did not disappoint!
The past was filled with incredible true stories that are sometimes far more incredible than fiction ever could be, Kristina McMorris did such a beautiful job of turning this true story into an inspiring novel that taught many about the tragedies of the past during The Great Depression, a time where we, as a country were at our lowest and so many parents, chose to do the unthinkable and 'sell' their children. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Kristina McMorris has written an engaging story about what happens when a well-meaning reporter resorts to staging a photograph to save his job. The story perfectly captured the desperation of many families in the 1930’s as they struggled to earn a living and raise a family.

Reporter Ellis Reed took a photograph of two boys for sale, which illustrated the drastic measures some families had to resort to during the depression. As luck would have it, the photograph was damaged before going to press and Ellis was sent out to take another one. But when Ellis returns to the home, the family is nowhere to be found. What Ellis decides to do next will have devastating consequences.

Ellis joins forces with his friend and co-worker, Lily, and together they set out to right the situation at great expense to their own jobs and personal safety. With mob connections, a deranged farmer and a mentally unstable woman, Ellis and Lily prepare for possible disaster.

A very enjoyable read and one that I highly recommend to historical fiction lovers.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.