Beautifully written saga of a sad time during the Depression in the United States. The characters come to life on the page and the mood of the country is vivid. A definite must read book.

3.5-star rating

Children for Sale

The sign sits on a porch in 1931. It's the time of broken dreams, lost fortunes and heartbreak. What a decision to make - to sell you children. This is the scene which journalist Ellis Reed comes upon while reporting on another story. He decides to take some pictures of the two boys sitting near the sign and wonders "can they read?" Do the boys know what is written on the sign? Heart wrenching and sad.

Lilian Palmer is a single Mother who hides the fact that she has a four-year-old son who resides with her parents and whom she visits every weekend. By chance she sees the photograph that Ellis has taken and decides to bring it to her boss's attention. When that photograph becomes damaged, a new photograph must be taken. That final photograph changes things for both Ellis and Lilian (among other characters) forever.

This book was a quick easy read but I found that the pacing lagged at times. I found it to be slow in the beginning, then picked up and then lagged again. My biggest complaint about this book is that even though the subject matter is heart breaking, I did not feel as if I had the emotional connection that I was expecting. I had high expectations for this book in that regard. Again, I was hoping for more of an emotional connection. Can you even imagine putting your children up for sale? What that must have felt like? The reasons and situation which led you to make such a gut-wrenching decision. What must it be like to know your parents are selling you? For the entire book I wanted to know what happened to those initial boys who sat by the sign on their front porch. Were they ever sold? What was their fate? The reader does not know as the story is no longer about them but about Ellis and Lilian and their quest to right a wrong they feel that they committed by taking the second photograph. I was also hoping for more POV's in this book so that I could feel more of an emotional bond with the other children, Ruby and Calvin and their Mother. For me, I wanted to know more about all the children in this book, their thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Still, this is an enjoyable book which paints a picture of what life was like during that time. Tough decisions were made during that time which affected everyone in the family unit. Her characters were likable, and I did root for them. There are situations in this book which do pull at the heart strings. The story does become a tad predictable and everything is wrapped up nicely in the end but ultimately, I wanted more.


Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I received a copy of Sold on A Monday written by Kristina McMorris from Netgalley and this is my review.

Definitely a very interesting read. I enjoyed every bit of it. I thought it might be too intense for me because it concerns children and terrible situations however it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The author didn’t make light of it,she included all of the facts without too much horror. The story takes place during the Great Depression and the author did such a great job with the characters’ language. It really was representative of that time period. There were many ups and downs throughout the story, I found myself unable to put it down many times. I highly recommend this story. The best part is that it’s based on true facts which is explained at the end of the novel. That makes it so fascinating.

Again, thank you very much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this copy. My honest review of this wonderful book is that of a "must" read one should not miss. I couldn't put the book down because of the characters when our country was going through the most distressing times. I loved the insight of the 30's, the life, the people and their struggle to survive. Even if it was for the childrens* benefit to be sold.

Considering the current political climate I wasn't sure about reading a book about children needing to be sold,so they could have a better life. The author did an amazing job describing the lives of all involved. Ellis had a estranged relationship with his father which motivated him throughout his life,only to find out the true reason for his fathers behavior. It was a turning point for Ellis,and it gave him the added push to reunite the children with Geraldine.
The role of women in the workforce,the expectations of their ability was written well, and showed that in some ways we haven't come as far as we thought we had.
I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading others by this author.

This is the book I have waited over two years for, the one I have most anticipated this summer! Five stars to Sold on a Monday!

I read Kristina McMorris’ last book, The Edge of Lost, the day my preorder arrived, which was the day before Thanksgiving 2015. I can remember that book on my counter a mere foot from where I was cooking. Any spare minute I had, the book was in my hands. It is one of the most perfect reads, and I have recommended it to many other happy readers since. When McMorris announced her new release, Sold on a Monday, I started counting the days. And the day finally came! Settling in to read a book by a favorite author; there is truly no better experience.

Inspired by an actual newspaper photograph that spread like wildfire, Sold on a Monday is set during the depression. Times are dire, and a hard-working reporter, Ellis Reed, is trying to scope out a story so he can earn his meager salary. He takes a photo of two young boys, while not at first noticing the sign on the front of the house noting the children are for sale. The photo is a big break for Ellis, who has barely been making ends meet as a sometimes society reporter fill-in. He turns the photo into a period piece representing the ruthless and heartbreaking times brought about by the depression. The way it all unfolds causes Ellis to find his ethics questioned, and it snowballs into something bigger.

Sold on a Monday is also Lily Palmer’s story. A young, unwed mother struggling to climb a ladder to somewhere with her job in a male-dominated profession (a male-dominated entire workforce, at the time), while also remaining employable period due to the stigma of her having a child out of wedlock. Working at the same paper, Lily befriends Ellis and becomes involved with his breakout story. Her own role as a mother further tests her ethics and pathos.

McMorris knows how to write characters I absolutely love. Ellis and Lily each have a genuine goodness within them that is palpable and a strong drive to do what is right. Of course the children of the story are written with care, and even the once workaholic stereotypical reporter, Clayton Brauer, has a softer side.

Sold on a Monday offered me a solid sense of what it was like to live in the 1930s, including the depression, the mob, prohibition, and the grim economic times. But more than that, it was about the alarming decisions people will make during desperate times. It is about right versus wrong and the search for understanding. It has mystery (a tiny cliffhanger at the end of most of chapters kept the suspense building), drama, and a sweet romance, all with helping children at its heart. For a book that had big shoes to fill, Sold on a Monday is revealing, powerful, and compassionate.

My review will be posted to my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com on or before pub date, and I will update my review with a direct link when I post it.

3.5 stars. Oh, that cover!!!

If my rating were based on book cover alone, this would be a 5+ star! Perhaps due to my intense attraction to that heart-wrenching cover along with the book blurb, my expectations may have been set a little too high. With that stated, it was still an enjoyable story, just much lighter and different than expected. It simply didn’t ‘pack the punch’ (thank you, Marialyce) that I was hoping for.

This novel follows Ellis Reed, a rookie employee in the newsroom who is trying to make a name for himself as a reporter. He is on a small assignment in a little town when his car breaks down and he finds himself taking a random photo of two young boys sitting on a rundown porch holding a sign “2 Children For Sale”. Though a completely random decision to take the photo, it is a life changing choice that leads to a long trail of consequences for Ellis.

The idea for this book came from an actual photo taken in 1948 showing four children sitting on their front porch steps with a sign saying “4 Children For Sale – Inquire Within”, their mother hiding her face in the background. My hope was that this would be their story. I wanted to know what would bring a mother to the point of selling her children. What happened to these poor, innocent children? The novel took a completely different path than I had anticipated which unfortunately felt like a letdown. I was craving the knowledge that could possibly explain this haunting photo. The story that did unravel through these pages was interesting, yet lacked the intensity and emotion I had hoped for. The first half of the book held my interest much more than the second half where I found that it became overly dramatic with a few too many things going on.

Overall, this was an enjoyable story that had a lighter tone than I had expected. I read this with my Traveling Sisters and we all felt quite similarly.

A big thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and Kristina McMorris for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Expected Date of Publication: August 28, 2018.

At first I was a bit disappointed wanting to read about the kids but ones I got to know the characters I wanted to know about their lives and how they would proceed with some of the situations that occurred. The book is set during the depression year of 1931. It gives a solid reflection of that time period. The hardship people endured. The treatment of woman in the workforce and in general wat was accepted and not accepted as proper behavior.
To most us as a mother it seems hard to accept that somebody would be willing to sell their children but then it is still happening in this day and age. For whatever reason; desperation, better to sacrifice one so others might survive or simply greed or convenience.
All by all it was a very satisfying read and I do recommend when you finished the book you take the time to read the Author's Note and "A Conversation with the Author". I feel it adds to the story.

I feel badly that I'm not able to be as excited as a lot of people are about this soon to be published book. Kristina McMorris has some very popular books out there, and this might be another one, but for me, it lacked a depth of character. I just couldn't connect to the main characters Ellis and Lillian. What's interesting is that I thought the main characters were going to be the two children, who were the inspiration of the book. Those two children that were sitting on a porch, with a sign saying "children for sale". Heartbreaking to even think about, but I thought, what an interesting book! I was also thinking of the depression era book Mary Coin, another book, based on a picture.
The book has potential, but fell flat for me. I would have enjoyed more stories of other people's of the time. Perhaps a bit shorter as well. I found myself slogging through much of the first half. A predictable "pat" ending, had me closing the book, and thinking I couldn't give this more than 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for offering this book to preview for an honest review.

A full blown pull at your heartstrings breathtaking read! The storyline grabs hold of you keeping you hostage, riveted fueling through the pages! A nail-biting on edge intense must read!

“Bread lines, bank runs, and impossible choices”
It’s 1931, and young reporter Ellis Reed, who is scraping out a living doing “woman’s work” writing for the society pages of the Philadelphia Examiner, gets his big break when he takes a photo of 2 children with a sign “2 children for sale” and his story, as we would say almost a century later, “goes viral”. But Ellis knows that his success is based on a lie that may have caused devastating consequences for innocent people, and he has a hard time living with that. Lily Palmer, secretary to the editor-in-chief, is practically the only other person who knows Ellis’ secret, and she has one of her own. But neither Ellis nor Lily knows the whole truth, and together they investigate to learn the story behind the story and to try to make things right.
I don’t read books like this one very often, but something in the description of Sold on a Monday attracted me, and I am glad I followed through, because it was a riveting read. Although this is not a suspense novel, the plot was full of turns and surprises, and I am deliberately giving few details so that you can enjoy them as much as I did. The well-drawn scenes ranged from rural farms to big-city newsrooms, an orphanage to a speakeasy, and were peopled with ambitious reporters, mothers forced to give up their children, wealthy New York bankers, and even The Mob. The characters were practically all sympathetic, which caused me some angst, because they each had something they wanted very much, very natural human desires for love and fulfillment, and it was obvious that not everyone could have what they wanted. In their quest some of them do things that seem pretty daring and, yes, stupid, but I can’t quite say implausible. Even the "bit parts" were nicely done, like Mildred, a low-level employee at the orphanage, who has to decide what is in the true interest of the children.
Author Kristina McMorris was inspired to write Sold on a Monday by an actual news photo showing four children being sold by their mother in Depression-era Chicago. As a mother herself, McMorris kept thinking about this picture and wondering what could have driven a mother to that point. Her inspiration grew from the timeless theme of a mother’s love. But as a historical novelist, McMorris also is interested in the (certainly not unrelated) social and economic picture of the era. The small details from the era were fun. The image of people smoking in the waiting room of a hospital (!) or Ellis telling the elevator operator what floor he wanted made me smile. Ellis’ dad eating creamed corn at dinner made me ponder when was the last time I saw THAT dish on a menu. Of course, there were also the children laboring at young ages and Hitlerites marching through Germany to remind me how grim the era was. Many of the newspaper articles and events in the book are based on actual happenings.
Sold on a Monday is a very well-told tale set in an interesting era; there is a lot to like. It would be a great book to discuss in a book group, and a Reading Group Guide is provided to help you along.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an Advance Review copy of this book.

great beginning. grabbed me right away. enjoyed the book. an easy read. i recommend it! really good for a book club. will bring great discussions.

Sold On A Monday is a very interesting story, and one that has garnered my interest enough to read more about the photograph that inspired the tale.

It is hard for me to imagine such a time and having to make a decision to give up my children. Knowing what we know now, that many were mistreated and basically cheap labor, makes it even more awful to consider.

I give this book between 3.5 and 4 stars and recommend it as an interesting book/story loosely based on a very well known and compelling photograph.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read and review the book. All opinions are 100% my own.

This book was different from what I expected. This is the depression and awful things can happen when people can’t find wor, food or help. In this book that’s what it seems from the picture taken by a young reporter. But, there is so much more here.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Sold on a Monday takes place during the Great Depression and is inspired by a real photograph of children with a for sale sign displayed. Lily and Ellis work at the same Philadelphia newspaper. She is the secretary while he is reporting on the society pages. Lily slips a photograph that Ellis took of two children on a front porch with a for sale sign into a folder of other photos he took for another story. She is haunted by the picture. This becomes Ellis's big break as he gets to write a story to go with the picture. Both Lily and Ellis struggle with knowing what's right, secrets, and following their hearts. This is a book that will haunt you, inspire you, and break your heart.

This is one of those books that will keep you guessing. Even when you have read the last page you will be shaking your head. The story, as explained in the description, came to life from an actual picture posted in 1948 in the Valparaiso-Messenger news paper. The image of children with a for sale sign in front of them, stunned the world. The novel starts in a hospital waiting room. “From the tiled floor came a shrill scrape, a chair being dragged in my direction. Tiny hairs rose on the back of my neck from more than the sound. Upon learning of my involvement, an officer had warned me a detective would soon be here to talk. That man now sat down to face me.”....”Then I heard “Can you tell me how it all started?” …..”It Started with a picture.” We don't get back to this statement until toward the very end of the story. By then so much has happened, I was taken aback when I started to read it a second time.
I love it when an author tells you the back story and what caused her to write this specific story. Kristina does a wonderful job of this at the end of Sold On A Monday. She fills in some of the gaps and explains things we may not have known or noticed. Please, take the time to read it, you won't be sorry.
I found this to be a very sad story, for the most part. But Kristina has a way of bringing light and hope even into this heartbreaking tale. You find yourself after just the first pages being taken on an unforgettable journey. Her characters are so authentic, you find yourself pulling for them. This book kept my interest right from the start. I would recommend this book.
I received this book from Sourcebooks Landmark through NetGalleys. The opinions expressed in this book are my own.

This book was difficult to get into. I was left uninterested after the first few pages of the first chapter. I usually enjoy these types of reads, but this one left me desiring more excitement. I couldn't get pass the first chapter. The book may pick up later on, so I do not wish to discourage others from reading it who may find interest in it.

You know book lovers that feeling you get when you see a cover and a blurb about a book and you know in your head that you just have to read it? Perhaps it is the anticipation, the wanting for this book to be spectacular, the need to read it from start to finish that propels you. Perhaps also it is this anticipation, that sets higher goals then this book is able to reach and sadly this was the case for me with Sold On A Monday.

Sold on a Monday: A Novel by [McMorris, Kristina] A want to be newspaper reporter sees a sad sight and snaps a photo. Later, it is believed that he has a gem of an idea for a story, a story that might propel him into the position at the paper he so desires. The sign is that of two young boys sitting on a porch. They are being sold, a result of the effects of the depression where life became so onerous for Americans that a sight such as this tragically happened. The reporter, Ellis Reed returns to find these boys and sees the house deserted and the children gone. So Ellis stages a photograph using two other children and from this the photograph a story and tragic events ensues. The children in the second photo are gone, sold......Ellis must find them and what happened to these young children.

He is joined on this journey by Lillian Palmer, a young woman also looking for a way to better herself and follow in the footsteps of Nelly Bly. Lillian herself carries a secret and she an Ellis search for these children following quite a circuitous trail to their possible whereabouts. Their search leads to heartbreak for the mother of the children of the staged photo.

This book has such an excellent premise and I was hopeful that it would provide an excellent story. However, sadly, I was disappointed. I felt a lack of a connection with the characters, as the book seemed to lack that emotional tie so needed in a book of this sort. There was just not that punch I felt this book required, although the author did a fine job with her descriptions. I enjoyed her author's note about the 1948 photo which inspired this book. I wished so much that she had followed up with that photo with its tragic story instead.

This was a quick read, one that I read with a group, The Traveling Sisters on goodreads. We each came away feeling the same way about this story.

Thank you to Kristina McMorris, Source Books Landmark, and NetGalley for an advanced copy o this book.

The picture that inspired the story. Siblings shown in old photo tell their stories and the article about it.

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...

3.5 stars! First things first…...This is one of those books where I just had to read it because of that totally captivating cover and title of this book, which I found both to be absolutely intriguing!

SOLD ON A MONDAY by KRISTINA MCMORRIS was definitely an interesting, heartbreaking but yet heartwarming, and haunting tale but it left me with some mixed feelings upon finishing though. I thought this book was a good, quiet, easy and quick read that definitely had some great aspects to it but it didn’t really have enough emotional depth to it to make me feel emotionally engaged in this whole story.

I thought that this story had so much potential but unfortunately this book went a little differently than I expected. This was more of a story about Ellis, the reporter who takes a picture of two boys with a sign that reads “2 children for sale” and Lillian a secretary that works at the same newspaper as him. I would have liked the story to have given me a little more insight into the actual photos rather than the consequences surrounding the story behind that picture.

KRISTINA MCMORRIS does deliver a descriptive read here when it came to the life and times of a reporter and I could really envision some of the scenes that transpired in this book. The characters were well-developed and likeable but somewhat predictable. The ending was sweet & satisfying for me.

Knowing that the theme of this book was inspired by an actual newspaper photograph taken in 1948 of a mother and her four children with a sign that says “4 CHILDREN FOR SALE INQUIRE WITHIN” was absolutely heartbreaking and definitely pulled at my heartstrings. I just wish that the emotional pull that I felt while reading the “Author’s Note” would have happened for me while I was reading this book.

I still think this was a good book though and definitely worth the read but in my opinion it was a little too quiet in the delivery.

Publishing Date: August 28, 2018

* Traveling Sisters Group Read

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Kristina McMorris for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review!

WOW, WOW, WOW! Loved this book! Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris should be everyone's next book club read. It takes place during the depression, and is based on a real picture taken of children holding a sign saying "children for sale". McMorris writes a story which portrays the power of media which is also very relevant today. I found the very beginning of the book a little slow but that changed quickly. The story depicts the desperate measures families must have gone through during the depression and the consequences of their actions. Ellis a photographer/reporter could not find the original picture he took of the children holding the sign so recreates a picture of the children for sale with other children. The article goes viral and because of his lie the "staged" children end up taken from their mother. By the end of the book you find out what happened to the children and see the consequences of "fake news". A must read. Five stars for me. Grab your Kleenex at the end. Also when you are done make sure you google the story on the real photo taken in Chicago. Can't wait to read another book by Kristina McMorris. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this ARC. I found a new author I love!!