Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from The Bookies Bookstore in Denver recommends a fictional tale of real-life waitresses, an story of a woman’s ties to Ireland and a “true novel” translated from the original French.
The Harvey Girls
By Juliette FayGallery Books$18.99 (paperback)August 2025Purchase
From the publisher: 1926: Charlotte Crowninshield was born into one of the finest Boston society families. Now she’s on the run from a brutal husband, desperate to disappear into the wilds of the Southwest. Billie MacTavish is the oldest of nine children born to Scottish immigrants in Nebraska. She quit school in the sixth grade to help with her mother’s washing and mending business, but even that isn’t enough to keep the family afloat.
Desperate, both women join the ranks of the Harvey Girls, waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad. Hired on the same day, they share three things: a room, a heartfelt dislike of each other…and each has a secret that will certainly get them fired.
From Marianne, back room receiver: Fred Harvey changed the West when he opened restaurants at train depots, hiring young women (Harvey Girls) as waitresses. This fictionalized account set in the 1920s follows two young women, Billie and Charlotte, from their initial training in Topeka, Kansas, to the El Tovar Hotel at Grand Canyon National Park. Juliette Fay weaves historical details into a story of two very different women who grow to be close friends and confidantes. I spent two summers working for “Fred” at the Grand Canyon; I absolutely loved this book.
Long Island
By Colm TóibínScribner$18.99 (paperback)February 2025Purchase
From the publisher: Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now 40 with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.
One day, when Tony is at work an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.
From Pat Macy, bookseller: Follow Eilis from Colm’s previous book “Brooklyn” as she returns to Ireland to find herself. We know why she left, but the puzzle of why she stays remains unfinished.
The Postcard
By Anne BerestEuropa Editions$18.95 (paperback)May 2024Purchase
From the publisher: Anne Berest’s “The Postcard” is among the most acclaimed and beloved French novels of recent years. It is at once a gripping investigation into family trauma, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and a vivid portrait of 20th-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life.
January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques — all killed at Auschwitz.
Years after the postcard is delivered, the heroine of this novel is moved to discover who sent it and why. What emerges is a moving saga of a family devastated by the travails of the 20th century and partly restored through the power of storytelling.
From Bess Maher, event liaison: Translated from French, “The Postcard” is what the author calls a “true novel,” meaning it’s all based on autobiographical events and family research. It is essential reading for today’s world encapsulated in a beautiful novel.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
The Bookies Bookstore2085 S. Holly StreetDenver, CO 80222
thebookies.com
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