Author: Galia Gichon
Started: May 28, 2021
Finished: May 30, 2021
Thanks to Books Forward and Wyatt-McKenzie Publishing for the opportunity to read this book to release in exchange for an honest review.
Helen Fox and her family live in a tenement where every penny counted. Her daughter, Abigail, goes to work in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory where she dies in the horrific fire of 1911. After fainting while looking for her daughter, Helen is helped by Harriet Stanton Blatch, a known Suffragist. The innumerable losses of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory have spurred the Suffragists to pursue the right to vote more passionately. Helen eventually begins working for the Suffragist and starts to see how important the movement truly is. Helen suffers through the worst night of the Suffragist movement The Night of Terror - where Suffragists were tortured by male guards at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia.
I had a cursory knowledge of the Suffragist movement that was learned in high school during US History. I had never heard of the Night of Terror and actually had to see if it actually happened. I was appalled at the way the torture was described in the book as it was based on true accounts.
I found myself drawn into the story from the start. Galia Gichon took great care in researching the time period, the people, and the events she included in the story. I immediately cared about Helen and was invested in what would become of her. It should be noted that this is Gichon's first foray into novel writing as she has formerly written money management books. I would be very interested to read any further novels by Galia Gichon as she has truly impressed me.