The Girl from the Papers

 

This novel was ripped from the headlines in the early 1930s, and turned six ways to Sunday.  But it is based loosely on a criminal couple who made their name robbing banks, stores, and funeral homes (rather morbid, but it was what happened).  In this novel there were a few bank robberies, an overwhelming number of car thefts, one prison break that got several people killed, and several smaller store robberies.

The tale begins ten years prior to Black Tuesday when Wall Street crashed and sent the whole country (if not the whole world) into an economic depression.  Beatrice Calloway had been in the pageant circuit since she was a little child, but as she is growing up, the pageants are getting harder and harder to win.  Her mother seeks out men who have money to keep her in a lavish lifestyle and finds one Charles Thomas who abused Bea, her mother, and her little sister. His warped sense of who God is set the tone for Bea's opinion of God in a major way.  

Bea always knew she was destined for bigger and better things than what she had in her current situation.  After her stepfather nearly drowns her, she moves in with her grandparents.  Her mother is just as dysfunctional as her stepfather but in different ways.  When Bea meets Jack Turner, she knows her ticket to a grander life has been punched. The only fly in the ointment is that Jack doesn't play by any rules except his own.  He's not a Robin Hood who steals from the rich to give to the poor, he's an out-and-out thief.  Whenever he goes on a caper, he steals a different car to keep suspicion away from himself.  The first time he gets caught by the police and sentenced to jail time hardens him and he believes that the police have it in for him and will just pin any crime on him even if he were somewhere else far away. Soon enough Jack and Bea got enough of a reputation that newspapers around the area that they are even nicknamed The Dallas Desperado and his Salacious Sheba. While Bea did not actively participate in any of his crimes, she did aid and abet his crimes,  sometimes driving the getaway car or signaled to the ones committing the crimes.  

Jennifer L Wright loosely based this on Bonnie and Clyde who both died in a hail of bullets during the commission of one of their crimes. This is an interesting novel to read, with the parallel to historical facts.  It was fun to read Jennifer's take on how faith might have entered the picture and changed the outcome for Bea and Jack both.  Bea eventually chose her faith, while  Jack declined to participate in anything that would remotely hint of faith in anything but himself.  It lead to his eventual downfall. I appreciated Jennifer's handling of the situation and how she showed that true, everlasting love comes from somewhere, someone outside ourselves.  This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a friend who will lead you home when you've lost your way. 

Tyndale House Publishing  provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.