The Downstairs Girl
Ratings27
Average rating4.1
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.
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4.5 Really enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. The writing is excellent, clever and humorous, and the message of using your voice and fighting against injustice is clear but not didactically hammering readers. The characters are complex and realistic and you really care about them. You also learn more about what it was like to be Chinese in the south during Reconstruction and right before Jim Crow, which not a lot of books cover. Will definitely booktalk this and try to find this book an audience.
I was going to give this four stars but I'm bumping it up because my mum, who is sick in bed right now, was so very charmed and entertained by this book and she never likes anything.
As someone who doesn‘t like historical fiction, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed this a lot. The best parts are the writing style and characters. It makes me want to read more from this author. I was never bored by the plot but I did get confused by the side character at times. I have to agree with the consensus that the stakes weren‘t that high and things seemed to conveniently work out. But I‘m not mad about it lol. I enjoyed it overall.
