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A review by zinelib
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

In late 19th century Atlanta, Chinese people kind of don't exist. It's a colored (Black) and white world. Jo Kuan and her guardian Old Gin squat in a basement below a newspaper office because Chinese...can't rent or own? Was that really the law? Where on Earth where they supposed to live? Maybe in Augusta instead of Atlanta, or maybe they needed to be confined to work dorms. 

perhaps when you live in a basement, you get use to a low ceiling

Jo has learned to have low expectations, but she can't help her high hopes. She's got a talent for millinery. There's kind of an excess of hat observations in the book, but Jo is a nerd, and not just about felt, knots, and brims. 

"Phlegmy?"

"Yes. Now that's a word that doesn't care what anyone thinks. All those letters trying to prop up the 'leg' in the middle."

^ Is from a discussion with the upstairs newspaperman. 

I try to drum up my old dislike for her, but it is like sucking on a bone that has lost its flavor. 

One must forgive the trespasses of the sad white women who torment one. Jo is Caroline's lady's made, and Caroline is Jo's affliction:
 
Heaving and moaning, Caroline spends her grief by the dollar, until her purse empties and she’s down to nickel hiccups and penny whimpers.

It's a nifty historical romance that left me wanting more Stacey Lee. 
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