In All Good Faith

 

In the summer of 1932, Americans are coming to realize that the financial crash of 1929 was only the beginning of hard times. May Marshall has returned from Paris to settle at her family home in rural Keswick, Virginia. She struggles to keep her family farm and market afloat through the economic downturn. May finds herself juggling her marriage with a tempting opportunity to revamp the family business to adapt to changing times.

In a cold-water West End Boston tenement the fractured Sykes family scrapes by on an itinerant mechanic's wages and home sewing. Having recently lost her mother, sixteen-year-old Dorrit Sykes questions the religious doctrine she was raised in. Dorrit is reclusive, held back by the anxiety attacks that have plagued her since childhood. Attempting to understand what limits her, she seeks inspiration in Nancy Drew mysteries and finds solace at the Boston Public Library, writing fairy stories for children. The library holds answers to both Dorrit’s exploration of faith and her quest to understand and manage her anxiety.

When Dorrit accompanies her father to Washington, DC, in the summer of 1932 to camp out and march with twenty thousand veterans intending to petition President Hoover for early payment of war bonuses, she begins an odyssey that will both traumatize and strengthen her. Along the way she redefines her faith, learning both self-sufficiency and how to accept help.

Dorrit and May's lives intersect, and their fates will intertwine in ways that neither could have imagined or expected. Set against a backdrop of true historical events, In All Good Faith tells a story of two women’s unlikely success during the Great Depression.

My Review

It was a bit slow reading for me at first but after a few chapters I did find myself starting to engage with the story and May and Dorrit. The book is broken out into parts. 

As the story progressed, I feel more into a rhythm with May and Dorrit. Of the two ladies, I tended to migrate more towards Dorrit. She still had a innocence about her that spilled off the pages as a bubbly personality. In addition, she had me with her love for Nancy Drew. I grew up on Nancy. She is one of the reasons I have my love for reading and mysteries. 

The author did a lovely job with this story and the time period. I was transported back in time. It was like I could see the story playing out in my head. While, I did like this book and the ladies; the slowness in the beginning and the fact that I could never find myself fully embracing the characters was why I "liked" this book but not "loved". However, I would read another book by this author.