The Operator
Fiction
HarperCollins
March 10, 2020
Hardcover
352
Free from publisher
Nobody knows the people of Wooster, Ohio, better than switchboard operator Vivian Dalton, and she’d be the first to tell you that. She calls it intuition. Her teenage daughter, Charlotte, calls it eavesdropping.
Vivian and the other women who work at Bell on East Liberty Street connect lines and lives. They aren’t supposed to listen in on conversations, but they do, and they all have opinions on what they hear... especially Vivian. She knows that Mrs. Butler’s ungrateful daughter, Maxine, still hasn’t thanked her mother for the quilt she made, and that Ginny Frazier turned down yet another invitation to go to the A&W with Clyde Walsh.
Then, one cold December night, Vivian listens in on a call between that snob Betty Miller and someone whose voice she can’t quite place and hears something shocking. Betty Miller’s mystery friend has news that, if true, will shatter Vivian’s tidy life in Wooster, humiliating her and making her the laughingstock of the town.
Vivian may be mortified, but she isn’t going to take this lying down. She’s going to get to the bottom of that rumor—get into it, get under it, poke around in the corners. Find every last bit. Vivian wants the truth, no matter how painful it may be.
But as Vivian is about to be reminded, in a small town like Wooster, one secret usually leads to another.
My review:
4.5 stars
What a delightful read, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I spent with this book! I'm not going to rave about any gorgeous literary prose, but I am going to rave about the way the author sucks you into the lives of the people in this small town in the 1950's.
Small aside......This was one of my most anticipated books of the spring. My aunt worked as a telephone operator during the same time period of this book (and for her whole career!). I remember as a kid when she would talk about how they weren't supposed to listen in to conversations, but occasionally would hear the beginnings of some interesting stuff!
And so we have Vivian, who overhears something devastating to her and her family! She grapples not only with whether to cover it up, but also who was the bearer of the information and how did they get it? What I loved about the book was not only did we follow Vivian on her quest for the truth, but there were several other stories about the townspeople going on at the same time. This made the pacing of the story perfect as it weaves in and out of people's lives. As serious as some of the subject matter was, there was also humor interjected (I will never forget the "four flushers"!)
Packed with small town life in the 50's, with great characters, and ultimately a story of forgiveness, I got everything I was looking for. Don't miss this one!
LOVED this book.
It was a delightful read.
Nice review. Mine is up today too.
Wasn’t it good? It certainly lived up to my expectations!