Birdie.
September 1933
Downtown Drugstore had a bell on the door that made a single tink sound when you opened it. Oxford Pharmacy had two bells on its door so it was more of a ta-tink, though nothing to startle over. But the Gathright-Reed Drug Co. door bore a foot-long strip of brass sleigh bells on its knob, which, when turned, sent metal balls clanging to announce somebody's coming in the dang store so you better turn around and look see who it is. And if you did, you'd see me.
Stockett, Kathryn. The Calamity Club, p. 1.
Birdie.
I dragged myself through an unlatched gate, and up a brick path, past a carriage block chiseled with the name Tartt. I was not looking or feeling my best, nor was their yard. A limb had fallen in the azalea bushes that lined the front porch, I reckon from the storm that had just blown through here. At the time, it'd seemed wise just to walk from the train depot instead of spending twenty-five more cents on a taxicab ride.
Stockett, Kathryn. The Calamity Club, p. 56..
Today's Featured Book:
The Calamity Club
by Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Fiction
Published: May 5, 2026
Page Count: 640 pages
Summary:
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.
I am barely 10% into the story, but the characters are compelling and the pages seem to turn themselves.
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If you designed a book-themed escape room, what puzzles would be part of it? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)
I would be the last person you'd want to design an escape room since I'm not terribly sure I know what that is, and because I'm not a mystery reader, and as the math-y portion of my brain got beat up by my word-y brain part in my childhood---well, you see where I'm going...
