Customer Reviews

The Storyteller's Daughter

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In her inimitable style, Jean Thesman pens a book about the trials of life as a teenage girl during Prohibition. She captures the feeling of the era so wondrously that you feel as if you are 15-year old Quinn. Her father, Beau John, is endeared by the whole neighborhood for his easygoing and generous personality. Once a bookkeeper, he is forced to work long hours as a dock laborer in another city, and come home only on weekends. As Quinn learns of the suspicious circumstances surrounding his failure to come home from work one weekend, she learns that nobody's perfect, and that the fine line between good and evil can blur around the edges. In this sterling example of an adolescent's initiation into adulthood, you see that even the most deceptively simple ideas are full of complexities, and that we must be brave enough to face them.

What a gorgeous book this is; well written, with realistic characters and fabulous wit and humour...it's hard to believe this book is so hard to get hold of thesedays, especially when lesser books are so freely available. Publishers, eh? Go figure...

Although set in the days of Prohibition and the Great Depression, when no one had much money, and jobs were very hard to come by (very dark days indeed!) this is nonetheless one of the most joyful and uplifting tales I've ever read, a true case of finding a silver lining even on the darkest of clouds. Quinn is a truly inspiring heroine, and her family and friends are amazing. In spite of the adverse conditions they face in their lives, they all make the best of it, and find their own fun...their sense of humour is never diminished. There's good people and bad in Quinn's neighbourhood, but they love and care for each other, and when someone is in trouble, everyone else helps out. I only wish society was still this neighbourly today! Todays kids and teens really should read this, so they will know just what life was like back in grandma and prandpa's day.

I doubt my review does justice to the utter fabulousness of this book, or the complexities and nuances of its characters, or the utter realism of it's setting, but trust me...if you can find a copy of this book, buy it, you won't regret it! It will open a window to a time long ago, a poignant phase in American history that should never be forgotten, and thanks to this book, hopefully never will be.