Sold On Monday by Kristina McMorris

If you have ever read or heard of  the book The Orphan Train or your children read one of the series books in elementary school, you understand the premise of Sold On Monday by Kristina McMorris.  The twist in this novel is that the children who are shown in a newspaper article dramatizing the extreme plight of many families during the Depression were not really for sale.  They just happened to be in wrong place at the right time and were used by a young reporter determined to get his byline into his newspaper.  The story was well received and the reporter was moving up in the news business when he discovered that his picture had unintentionally caused the “sale” of two children.  The reporter’s guilt over using a “fake” picture for his article propels him into a search for the brother and sister in order to return them to their mother and to correct his egregious mistake. At first glance upon finding the two children, the reporter feels relieved because their new home is obviously with a wealthy, upclass family and their lives appear to be much improved.  Fortunately, a friend working at the newspaper badgers the reporter into further investigation of the family because she refuses to leave the kids knowing their mother wants them back.  It was at this point in the narrative that the twists and turns become very melodramatic and cliche.  Knowing that there are true stories of depression era “orphans” who suffered through painful “adoptions,” made this book seem a bit soap operalike and contrived to me. However, if you enjoy stories of moral redemption with a love story added in and then a happy ending, this book is one you will like. A true to history book would have been more satisfying personally (even though I was relieved to have a happy ending!) but this book has been heralded by many critics as one of the new books of 2019 that readers will not want to miss.