The Lions of Fifth Avenue

Damn. Points were made, but the strongest impressions I come away with are messy and sad. This book had (not entirely original) things to say about early feminism, and there was character growth (though I'm always going to resent a stereotypically meek librarian protagonist), but the mystery pay off wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped and the amount of poor choices made by all was truly staggering. Human beings are flawed, but this was just tragic.
The dismay depicted for short prison sentences, to the extent of insisting a longer one is necessary, for book thieves in particular, rubs me the wrong way, but then I'd rather prisons didn't exist in the first place.
⚠️ Child abuse, suicide