Harvey Girls: Kit: Finding Freedom and Love by Katherine St.Clair

This book was about a group of young women, often referred as Harvey Girls, who were hired as waitresses in a franchise of restaurants at train stations across the United States. These girls came from all walks of life. Some came seeking adventure, others looking to move somewhere where they might meet a man to fall in love with and marry, and others simply seeking to make a better life for themselves.

The Harvey Girls were under a contract during their first year of their employment, agreeing to not date anyone during that first year. They were housed in a dormitory with a matron who watched over them to ensure that they did not engage in any behavior that might be considered “unseemly”. The restaurants all had very high standards, regardless of whether they were located in a big city or a small town out on the western frontier.

After their first year of employment, the girls could continue working for Mr. Harvey or they were free to leave to get married or to seek other opportunities. This book follows the story of a young woman named Kit who came from an extremely poor background seeking adventure and to make a better life for herself.

I enjoyed the story well enough to finish reading this book even though the author really should have hired a better editor. Every few chapters I would run across a sentence where a word had been dropped or the wrong word was used by mistake.  Sometimes these errors were minor, but other times I needed to read the sentence multiple times to truly grasp what the author was trying to say. The book was interesting enough to keep me reading despite these errors, sometimes taking me somewhere I saw coming, but other times taking a turn that surprised me.

In the future, I will likely try reading another book by this author as she did tell a good story. I just hope she finds a better editor to proofread her books before publication.