White Collar Girl

November 9, 2015
The hustle and bustle of a mid-20th-century newsroom during one of the most corrupt mayoral administrations in our nation's history comes to life in the latest Chicago-based novel from bestselling author Rosen. Jordan Walsh, born to be a journalist, follows in her parent's footsteps while living in the shadow of her deceased brother, Elliot, who was on the verge of breaking a major newspaper story when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Walsh is assigned to the society pages at the famed Chicago Tribune, and she does everything she can to break through the many barriers against women in the workplace. Through grit and determination, and with a little help from an administration insider who seeks her out, Walsh finally starts writing major headline stories, though she's still given articles that slant toward the female readership. Something about her brother's death haunts her and makes her believe that it wasn't an accident. Meanwhile, the stakes are raised when her personal life clashes with her professional ambition, and readers are left wondering whether Walsh will ever find the kind of satisfaction in her love life that can match her success on the job. Though Rosen's story doesn't exactly break new ground, it's nonetheless an entertaining and transportive page-turner.

October 1, 2015
Jordan Walsh wants to be more than a sob sister. She struggles to be taken seriously as a reporter in the male-dominated newsroom of the Chicago Tribune in the 1950s, and eventually both her colleagues and the representatives of the corrupt Chicago machine discover that Walsh's determination should not be ignored. The author of Dollface (2013) and What the Lady Wants (2014) returns to the Windy City in her latest work, this time to a smoke- and testosterone-filled newsroom where women are relegated to churning out copy for the society pages. Informed by interviews with the real-life journalists of the era and brimming with historical detail, Rosen's tale zooms Walsh through a combination of investigative derring-do, a family tragedy, and various romantic complications. Walsh's spunk and drive are exquisitely balanced by her uncertainties and mistakes, and the many twists and turns of the story are deftly, if at times predictably, dealt out. White Collar Girl is a riveting read, both as a trip back to the misogynistic workplaces of the Mad Men era and as an enjoyable look at a scrappy street reporter doing her work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)