The Downstairs Girl

The Downstairs girl was an amazing book, set in 1890 Atlanta. The book follows Jo, an opinionated young Asian girl who also happens to run an advice column as Ms. Sweetie. Except no one knows she is Ms. Sweetie, if anyone were to find out she was Asian she would most likely be arrested. I enjoyed this book a lot, although at times the words were so big I had to take the time to look up the definition on my phone or I would be completely lost. This book was an amazing read, and so interesting. Although there were some aspects of it that weren’t realistic. For instance, a character in the book once said “I’m game.” This is obviously not realistic for 1890. Parents, you should know that in this book there are some in appropriate parts, such as when Jo witnesses a grown naked man in the bathtub. (This part disturbed me, and but it was only a short sentence and not descriptive). There are also some parts where they speak about affairs. SPOILER AHEAD: Jo’s mother is actually the rich woman she works with, and her mother had an affair with an Asian man. Her mother’s husband believes Jo was a boy and also believes that Jo was dropped off at an orphanage. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it is definitely not appropriate for ages under 12.