BOOKISH FRIDAYS: EXCERPTING “THE OTHER TYPIST”

Welcome to another Bookish Friday, in which I  share excerpts from books…and connect with other bloggers, who do the same.

Let’s begin the celebration by sharing Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and let’s showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

What better way to spend a Friday!

My pick today is a recent download, and a book I hope to devour soon:  The Other Typist, by Suzanne Rindell, is a haunting debut novel set against the background of New York City in the 1920s…

 

 

 

Book Beginning:  They said the typewriter would unsex us.  One look at the device itself and you might understand how they—the self-appointed keepers of female virtue and morality, that is—might have reached such a conclusion.  Your average typewriter, be it Underwood, Royal, Remington, or Corona, is a stern thing, full of gravity, its boxy angles coming straight to the point, with no trace of curvaceous tomfoolery or feminine whimsy.

***

56:  I always assumed my notes were patchy and sporadic at best, but reviewing them now, I see I was quite thorough.  There are a great many more entries in my notebook—as I said, the ones I’ve included here only represent a sampling.  But there is no great anomaly in my interest, only in my methods.

***

Synopsis:  Confessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool.

As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie’s spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

***

What do you think?  Intrigued?  I know that I now can’t wait to read this one, a book I eyed years ago, but forgot to download.  Now that I’ve read another book by the author, I know I will enjoy this one.  And I read that there is a movie coming, too.

***