Gert and Winnie are still trying to finish high school when their mother pulls them out of school to join their older and recently widowed sister Nell and their gigantic younger sister Kit on the Vaudeville Circuit. After an injury to his hand, their dad is unable to work at his regularly job stitching boots and their resourceful mother comes up with an act that will pay the bills and put her daughters in the limelight, a place she has longed to be.
The sisters discover on the road, that they rather enjoy the spotlight too and the people that they meet. Vaudeville in 1919 was an unusual band of characters with a wide variety of acts. People flocked to the theaters looking for cheap entertainment that was clean enough for families. Along the journey, Gert and Winnie will find love and danger and a world they didn't know in their hometown of Johnson City, New York.
The Tumbling Turner Sisters by Juliette Fay immediately appealed to me. I love the historical setting and the potential mishmash of unique characters along the circuit. Fay's research is in-depth and I especially loved the facts and the real characters thrown in among the fiction. I actually learned a few things that I found rather fascinating.
The characters were well developed and I appreciated that the sisters were unique enough for me to immediately distinguish between them. The story lines are timely for the historic period and by meeting a wide variety of characters and traveling, the reader is exposed to many of the period's issues.
The writing is tight and the pace is steady. Exciting things are constantly happening but it lacks the sort of passion and momentum that might have kept me reading all night. Overall, it was a satisfying and entertaining novel. It definitely made me want to take a seat in a Vaudeville theater and enjoy the show.
The Tumbling Turner Sisters by Juliette Fay is published by Gallery Books and released on June 14, 2016.
**I received a complimentary copy of The Tumbling Turner Sisters. All opinions are my own. No compensation was received.**
I love when historical fiction is well-researched, but it doesn't feel like the author is just dumping facts on a page! I'm glad you enjoyed this one.
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