Roxboro, North Carolina; 1919~1921

Bertie Daye is a “hello girl” for the telephone company; her mother, Miss Lul, runs a boarding house. Bertie started a little side business of roasting and packaging five cent bags of peanuts. Although nineteen-year-old Bertie gives the money she earns from the telephone company to help run the household, the money she makes from peanuts is her own to spend on pretty clothes and whatever else strikes her fancy. She is the only woman in the county with her own Model T Ford, and female suffrage is her goal. She lures the men of Roxboro to listen to her speeches on suffrage by giving out free bags of her freshly roasted peanuts, even though her little sister promises kisses rather than peanuts.

After two days of marriage, Ina Fitzhugh’s husband drops dead from a ruptured appendix. Ina’s parents send the twenty-one-year-old away to rest and recuperate. She meets an older woman who helps her realize that she has always allowed others to make her decisions. Ina is determined to become her own woman, takes a job in Roxboro as a teacher, and rents a room from Miss Lul.

Guerine Loftis, Bertie’s pretty twenty-year-old cousin, has little to do other than admire herself, since her parents pay little or no attention to her. She is very social, and is organizing a party for the new teacher. Guerine and Bertie have a contentious relationship, but even though they argue, they care about each other.

Doodle, the last of the foursome, tends geese, and because her father is ill and unable to work, she works hard, making noodles to fatten the geese or caring for them. She has little care or time for her own appearance.

Bertie, the town’s telephone operator, is like none other -- she doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind or insult her customers. She works for the betterment of women -- particularly after she discovers the secret about her father. Ina discovers that the local teacher is quitting her post and Ina is expected to take on all the rowdy children, clean the out house, and chop wood for the school room -- a most disquieting revelation for a woman who is used to being waited on. Can she find her happiness in a classroom? Doodle’s father makes out his will leaving the farm to Doodle, but tells her a shocking story before he dies. The four young women become friends, settle in Roxboro, and look to their futures.

ON ACCOUNT OF CONSPICUOUS WOMEN is a fascinating look at the past and the women who struggled to become a more significant part of the fabric of the United States.

Bertie is a strong, determined young woman who has a gift for words and puts her gift to good use in trying to get the vote for women. It is amazing when you think about it that because of the effort of so many women less than one hundred years ago, today we are looking at a woman or African American as the president. The book is an account of women in 1920 who are just beginning to think for themselves and realize their strength. The people of Roxboro seem unfamiliar when compared to the people of the twenty first century.

ON ACCOUNT OF CONSPICUOUS WOMEN is a story of friendship, family relationships, love, and hard work. It is Ms. Shamp’s debut novel, and I am sure we will be hearing more from this talented author. All of the characters are likeable, the dialogue is realistic, humorous, and it is an intriguing and poignant tale.

Marilyn Heyman