The Boston Girl

This charming novel was a quick read, but unfortunately, lacked much substance. It would be great for young adults who like historical fiction but have outgrown the “American Girl” series. As an adult reader, however, I was left wanting more from the juvenile storytelling.

The story is narrated by an octogenarian telling her granddaughter about the life events that shaped the woman she became. The book seemed well-researched and had a positive “girl power” type message. Despite the era the narrator/heroine grew up in she resisted marrying young! She had a career! She sought fulfillment outside of child rearing!

Despite generally enjoying the easy read, I had two major qualms. First, there were a ridiculous amount of writing errors in the hardback edition I read, including multiple missing or repeated words (i.e. “she picked up she the pail”). It actually became distracting when there were 3 errors in approximately 5 pages of text. Second, in what was supposed to be a 300 page life history, the 85 year old narrator devoted 250+ pages to ~1908 - 1928. The remaining pages covered her marriage, the birth of her daughters, the death of her husband and friends, and the birth of her granddaughters with about 1 paragraph per topic.

Overall, a great recommendation for a 12-15 year old girl. Maybe a bit weak for adult readers, especially those used to more robust historical fiction.