Sold on a Monday

Best-selling author Kristina McMorris’s historical fiction novel Sold on a Monday (2018) is inspired by a real life event: A photograph published in a 1948 magazine of four siblings standing on their apartment steps with their mother (who is trying to hide her face from the photographer), and a sign advertising the children for sale in the foreground. The overarching theme of the novel is how one person’s poor decision can have many unexpected, and sometimes tragic, outcomes. The story is set in the Depression Era (1931-1932), with the action in and around Philadelphia and rural Pennsylvania, New York City, and Hoboken, New Jersey. The two main characters, 26-year-old newspaper reporter Ellis Reed, and 22-year-old secretary but aspiring newspaper reporter Lily Palmer, narrate the story in first person. The novel’s genre is social realism, because a central focus is on how families survived the Depression’s economic downturn—especially how, when families fell on hard times, they treated their children as income and labor. This guide refers to the 2018 paperback edition by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Plot Summary

Sold on a Monday tells the story of Ellis Reed’s struggle to overcome the terrible choice he makes when he lies to advance his career.