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A review by teriboop
The Accidental Suffragist by Galia Gichon
4.0
Helen Fox was a wife and mother of a struggling family living in a tenement in a poor area of New York. Helen and her husband both worked in factories along with their oldest daughter barely making enough to feed their family and keep a roof over their heads. A family tragedy struck at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that threatened to tear their family apart. As Helen stood in shock at the factory, leading suffragist Harriot Stanton Blatch swoops in to offer help and sympathies. Through her help and friendship Blatch introduces Helen to the cause of suffrage for women. By joining the cause with other suffragists, Helen's life changes, and not always for the better.
This novel covers the work of leading suffragists through Helen's eyes from 1912 through 1919 and touches on themes of factory work conditions and unionization, World War I, tenement housing, and economic/class disparity.
This appears to be the author's first work of fiction and I thought it was well done. The reader gets invested in Helen's life and family. You want to cheer Helen on when as she becomes a bold suffragist, standing up for herself while balancing a family and husband with traditional values. I thought there were a few awkward grammatical issues here and there, but the storyline is solid. I think I would have liked a little more to the ending as I felt things were hanging a little between Helen and her husband, and some of her family and friends. I also would have liked to have seen more connections to neighbors besides the one friend who helped the family out from time to time. I think there could have been a good sub-story there. Overall though, I thought the book was a good effort for a first novel.
I received this book gratis through the publisher for an honest review.
This novel covers the work of leading suffragists through Helen's eyes from 1912 through 1919 and touches on themes of factory work conditions and unionization, World War I, tenement housing, and economic/class disparity.
This appears to be the author's first work of fiction and I thought it was well done. The reader gets invested in Helen's life and family. You want to cheer Helen on when as she becomes a bold suffragist, standing up for herself while balancing a family and husband with traditional values. I thought there were a few awkward grammatical issues here and there, but the storyline is solid. I think I would have liked a little more to the ending as I felt things were hanging a little between Helen and her husband, and some of her family and friends. I also would have liked to have seen more connections to neighbors besides the one friend who helped the family out from time to time. I think there could have been a good sub-story there. Overall though, I thought the book was a good effort for a first novel.
I received this book gratis through the publisher for an honest review.