The Downstairs Girl

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo show more must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South. show less

Jo Kuan is a Chinese American young woman living in segregated Atlanta in the years following the Civil War. I loved that she was a strong character that shared her opinions fearlessly in a creative way. I felt like much of the novel was predictable, but it was still entertaining. It was a slice of history, particularly the Chinese American experience, that I knew little about.

“We are all like candles, and whether we are single or joined with another does not affect how brightly we can burn.”

“Somehow, Old Gin and I have managed to fit ourselves into a society that, like a newspaper, rarely comes in colors other than black and white.”

Jo Kuan leads a double life: a public role as a quiet lady’s maid and a secret one as the voice behind the hottest advice column in 1890 Atlanta.

Chinese American Jo is mostly invisible except for occasional looks of disdain and derisive comments, and she doesn’t mind: Her priority is making sure she and her adoptive father, Chinese immigrant Old Gin, remain safe in their abandoned abolitionists’ hideaway beneath a print shop. But even if she lives on the margins, Jo has opinions of her own which she shares in her newspaper advice column under the byline “Miss Sweetie.” Suddenly all of Atlanta is talking about her ideas, though they don’t know that the witty advice on relationships, millinery, and horse races comes from a show more Chinese girl. As curiosity about Miss Sweetie mounts, Jo may not be able to stay hidden much longer. And as she learns more about the blurred lines and the hard truths about race in her city and her own past, maybe she doesn’t want to. In her latest work, Lee (The Secret of a Heart Note, 2016, etc.) continues to demonstrate that Chinese people were present—and had a voice—in American history. She deftly weaves historical details with Jo’s personal story of finding a voice and a place for herself in order to create a single, luminous work.

An optimistic, sophisticated portrayal of one facet of Chinese American—and simply American—history. show less

I preordered this book last year, but it sat in my TBR until I got around to it this year for #asianreadathon and... I definitely should've gotten to this earlier because I love it! It covers #2 for me: read a book featuring an Asian character or by an Asian author similar to you, and both the protagonist Jo and I are Chinese American girls from the South y'all. I *really* liked this, because I adore historical fiction and this is a protagonist I can fit myself into too (and in an era with pretty hats).

There's a fair amount of plot threads going on (Jo's Miss Sweetie column and staying anonymous, her working relationship with Caroline and the Payne family, keeping their household hidden, wondering who Shang is, what's Old Gin up to, show more etc.) and they do get woven together like an elaborate Chinese cord knot. Jo is witty and often has a hard time filtering her tongue which is very relatable. YA protagonists have teenage feelings and it's nice that they're present here but also not stupidly boneheaded. Race in America is often literally black and white, so as a minority of a minority it's hard to tell where we're supposed to be if anywhere, especially in structurally rigid Reconstruction South (more often than not in cases like the novel, Asian Americans are more of a curiosity than considered actual people :| also, resonant in 2020!) Also: historical white feminism with the suffragettes! There's a lot in the book I really liked.

A couple brief references to the bachelor Chinese community in Augusta tickles me because that's where my maternal side hails from- periodically videos about the Mississippi Delta Chinese American community make the social media rounds and people are often like, "it's weird to see thick Southern drawls out of a Chinese face" and to me that's... normal? Because that's literally how a lot of my aunties and uncles talk, also my mom? I just find it incredibly wonderful to be represented in this very specific context. show less

Wow! I’ve had this on my TBR shelf since it came out in 2019, and finally read it. Why did I wait so long? Now I’ll be reading Stacy Lee’s other Young Adult and historical fiction.

The story opens with seventeen-year-old Chinese American Jo Kuan working as a milliner during the Gilded Age in Atlanta. Strongly opinionated, she soon loses that job but begins another position as a lady’s maid. In her free time, she begins to write an anonymous newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.”

Where to begin to tell you what makes this a 5-star read? The writing is beautiful – poetic, expressive, witty, insightful – and each character has their own voice, rhythm, and words. The various plot threads show more come together throughout the novel, mostly in unpredictable ways. I was often reading on the edge of my seat, and each new development kept me turning the pages.

Many of the characters were unique, and the juxtaposition of various developments between heartwarming and heart wrenching relationships were realistic and moving.

Words, especially words that begin with the letter “G,” emphasized main character Jo’s intelligence and the “homeschooled” education she received from Old Gin. Author Lee expertly includes themes of family and secrets, as well as the racism of the south in the late 1800s. Letter writing and newspapers, horses and dogs are also themes linked to the story.

While this is a YA novel, anyone would enjoy it, and I highly recommend! show less

(3.5)

Another find at the huge local library sale! I was intrigued because I haven’t read much YA historical fiction that wasn’t also fantasy--and because Stacey Lee is a founder of We Need Diverse Books, and I was absolutely obsessed with that site and its mission when it came out. It probably caused my interest to swing toward YA from adult (funnily enough, I never read YA when I was an actual young adult).

Content warnings:
- period-accurate racism & sexism
- sexual assault; CSA in particular
- fetishization

Representation:
- Chinese-American protagonist
- Chinese-American secondary protagonist
- Black secondary protagonist

When the newspaper that 17yo Jo Kuan loves needs more subscribers, she anonymously sends them advice columns as show more “Miss Sweetie”--signing it in her real name as an Asian girl in the New South would be dangerous. As her column begins to address riskier topics, interest in the identity behind Miss Sweetie grows from both fans and new enemies. But Joe has an interest in her own identity and in the parents who abandoned her as an infant, and the lessons she’s learned from being Miss Sweetie might be able to help her when that search draws the attention of a ruthless criminal.

Right away I was impressed with the writing style and quality (actually, even the dedication made an impact). I was also taken with all the witty lines and turns of phrases. Stacey Lee can certainly write good ones, but maybe she could use them more sparingly, because they can get to be a little exhausting.

But speaking of what Stacey Lee can write well, her characters are very memorable. Old Gin, in particular, is one of the warmest and most realistic characters I’ve read in a long time. With faults and strengths and a huge (but not overdone) personality, he stole every scene he was in--as well as played off other characters well. Jo’s employer and the lady she served were also well written--actually, there were very, very few people in this novel I didn’t love or find interesting.

I’ve also loved this look into what life for an Asian-American immigrant would have looked like in the New South (Alabama, ~late-ish 1800s, I think? I don’t have the book with me). My education on this time period before reading was mostly been limited to black and white, so this has been very valuable--and if it has been valubale for me, I can’t imagine how wonderful it is for Asian-American young adults.

But, of course, there are things I didn’t like …

This book contains one of my “quadruple-p’s”, or period-piece-pet-peeves: when characters’ lines sound way too modern for the time period they’re in. This is definitely more common in YA than adult fiction … perhaps done to appeal to modern readers? Or to sound like the latest Marvel/blockbuster, maybe? Or perhaps because it’s so commonplace and in fashion now that the author might not have considered it at all? I feel as though every “best friend” character in YA (the main offender of this pet peeve), despite the setting, has a similar personality, one that lends itself to more modern dialogue; it might be almost automatic at this point for them to speak this way. I could be thinking way too much into this, though. And considering it is one of my major pet peeves, this book really didn’t bother me with it all that often. It’s just that when it did, it stuck out terribly.

Now this is a bit strange to admit, but thinking back on it, this is way worse an issue now than it was while reading. But the plot might be a little bit of a mess. There’s too much going on in a single novel. Besides Jo’s search for her family/identity and her secret job writing anonymously for an advice column in the newspaper (despite having no prior experience or aspirations for writing in general and despite her previous dream of becoming a hatter that she may have forgotten about), there’s the romantic side plot and there's the mystery surrounding what her (step?)father/guardian might be involved with, and then suddenly she’s able to race horses to grapple with the newest plot point, etc. It just gets to be a lot.

I also did not like the way sexual assault starts to be used as a plot device. First, it helps Jo bond with Caroline, the hateful lady she serves--through brief flashbacks, which would be okay by itself. But then when Jo tries to get information from the villain, he’s in the middle of taking a bath. Not only does he (spoiler for sexual assault) stand up and grab her hair, but he gets an erection and moans . It goes from very YA to adult way too fast. I’m not saying YA can’t have this kind of content (or especially have conversations about it, because this happens to kids!), but there was very little discussion about it afterward, either, besides Jo telling her best friend, who said she’d smack [the antagonist] with a Bible. And that was that, I guess.

Stacey Lee seems like a wonderful person, but I almost enjoyed her very heartfelt acknowledgements and her author’s notes more than the book. Then again, I’m learning I might just be done with YA for the most part. I’ll have to wait to see if the YA authors I like ever write outside the genre. Till then I’ll support them in other ways!

(And although I know this probably isn’t Stacey Lee’s doing, the inner novel design is gorgeous! I’m in love with those illustrations.) show less

A pleasant surprise! I'm not normally a historical fiction kind of person but Stacey Lee had a way of sucking me right into the story. She wrote a character you can really feel for no matter who you are. I loved that Jo was standing up against racism and sexism buy using her words. Jo was clever and witty and a little sassy but it made her such an enjoyable character to read about. This could have been such a sad story but the author somehow twisted it to be uplifting and inspiring, which can't be an easy thing to do. It was a pleasure to read.