Finished: The Calamity Club (Stockett) What a good book! The same author which started this entire reading project for me fifteen years ago with her beautiful book, The Help, has written another book that puts me right into the environment, becoming immediately connected to each of the characters. Once again set in Mississippi, this time in 1933 Oxford, I feel like I can hear the drawl of every word spoken by the people. The story is told in alternating chapters between two sympathetic characters, Meg and Birdie, who you just want to wrap your arms around and tell them you'll fix everything. Birdie is a 24 year old "old maid" who is content with her life as a bookkeeper for the town store in her tiny hometown of Footley. She considers herself plain, and even her own father had raised her to be able to fix mechanical things and plumbing things, and made sure she studied math, because he didn't think she'd ever find a man to marry. When Birdie's mother lets her know that the taxes are due on their home and they are going to lose their home if they can't borrow $250 from her sister, Frances in Oxford, Birdie makes the trip to Oxford, determined to ask her beautiful younger sister, who'd married "rich" into the Tartt family, to please lend them the money. Frances had not even invited her own sister and mother to her wedding with Rory, and had been very unresponsive to their letters, because she was ashamed of how poor she grew up and where she was from. Frances volunteers once a week at the Lafeyette County Orphan Asylum with the hopes of being accepted into the social circle of the wealthy ladies, and invited to be on a committee. I'm not going to recount the entire book, because every detail is really worth reading and not spoiling. But I must mention the orphanage because this is where we meet Meg. Meg is an 11 year old "older girl" who is never on the wish list of prospective parents. She's still not over the fact that her mother told her she was running to the store two years earlier, and she never heard from her again. Meg is very smart and loves schooling, but unfortunately the orphanage is run by Garnett Pittman, a terribly hypocritical, narcissistic, social climber with much loftier goals than those of Frances. Plus, she has a huge grudge against Meg, which becomes part of the sad story, and so, treats Meg more harshly than any other girl there. Birdie and Meg meet when Frances delays asking Rory for the money for her family, and Birdie must stay in Oxford much longer than anticipated. Frances asks Birdie to come in and help with the books at the orphanage, hoping to win the favor of Garnett. This is where Birdie and Meg connect and form their bond. The longer Birdie stays in Oxford, the more she also gets to know the wealthy Mrs. Tartt, who isn't at all how Frances, who's scared of her, describes. She and Birdie get to know each other by actually conversing and being genuinely interested in each other's story. Finally, into the picture comes Charlie, Meg's mother. She did NOT abandon Meg, but the story of where she has been for two years and who was responsible for her being there is a huge part of the book! Charlie is determined to find her daughter, get her back and explain to her that she is the mother that Meg remembered and loved, and not the mother that would have just abandoned her child. Honestly, there were so many intricacies and relationships in this book that I wanted to just keep reading to the end, but I didn't want to read too fast and have it be over. I'm going to put the Amazon blurb below, because I do love their description. I really recommend reading this one! :-) 

"Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.

Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. 

Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister’s seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies. 

Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates—and Meg’s—converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women’s freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences. 

The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer—an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious—the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time."