White Collar Girl by Renee Rosen- 448 pages
ARC – Courtesy of Netgalley
Book Blurb:
Every second of every day, something is happening. There’s a story out there buried in the muck, and Jordan Walsh, coming from a family of esteemed reporters, wants to be the one to dig it up. But it’s 1955, and the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female cub reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column. Even with her journalistic legacy and connections to luminaries like Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, and Ernest Hemingway, Jordan struggles to be taken seriously. Of course, that all changes the moment she establishes a secret source inside Mayor Daley’s office and gets her hands on some confidential information. Now careers and lives are hanging on Jordan’s every word. But if she succeeds in landing her stories on the front page, there’s no guarantee she’ll remain above the fold.
My Review: 4 stars
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White Collar Girl, in my opinion, is Renee Rosen’s best work to date. Dollface and What The Lady Wants are wonderful stories and like White Collar Girl, all have Chicago as their common heart beat. I’ve learned so much about Chicago history from each of these books! In this novel however, the writing has gotten stronger, richer and more compassionate.
The main protagonist of this book, Jordan, is quite likeable and out to prove something to her brother, parents and of course, finally, herself. Beyond trying to break the glass ceiling in a male dominated world, she reminded us how important the papers were in the 1950s, why getting the ‘scoop’ first was so important and how carelessly women were treated.
I was definitely transported as I felt the newsroom buzz, heard the clicking of the typewriters and was utterly disgusted at the amount of smoking. I was taken to the heart of Chicago scandals including the machine workings of the Richard J. Daley administration, the horsemeat switch and the immense of amount of both private and public payoffs.
Great book! Highly recommend.
Quotes I liked:
It was the little things that left the biggest holes in my heart.”
-“Reading was like breathing to me.”
-“You think you’re immune to that sound. After all, sirens were the melody the city danced to.”
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