Fourteen-year-old Janet Lovelace escapes her father’s Pennsylvania farm in 1911 to seek a life of refinement. Renaming herself Joan, she finds work as a domestic servant for the Rosanbachs, a wealthy Jewish family in Baltimore. Through her diary, she records the physical labor of scrubbing floors and polishing silver alongside her introduction to art, literature, and religious differences. Joan struggles to navigate the social hierarchy of the household while developing an inconvenient crush on her employer’s son and accidentally causing theological friction within the family.
This book attracts readers interested in a realistic look at early twentieth-century class structures and domestic service. It serves those who enjoy historical narratives written in a first-person, epistolary style. Readers gain a detailed perspective on the intersection of Catholicism and Judaism during the Edwardian era. The story provides a candid look at the intellectual growth of a young woman who uses literature to bridge the gap between her rural upbringing and her urban aspirations.
- Published
- 2015
- Language
- EN
