One summer afternoon in 1914, three sisters Constance, Norma, and Fleurette Kopp are heading into town in their buggy when they are violently hit by Henry Kaufman and his cronies in his car. Constance, a very tall woman, makes it quite clear that he will pay for the damages and takes down his license plate and his name and address. It turns out that Kaufman is the owner of a silk mill and they run things in town. Their brother Francis wants them to let him fix it and not have anything to do with Kaufman. He also wants them to sell their farm and come live with him so he can take care of them. Which is a running theme of the book. People keep asking them if they don't have a man to look after them like they can't take care of themselves.
Constance, however, intends to fix this herself and sends a letter detailing the damages to Kaufman. When she doesn't receive a response she sends another letter requesting the money and also telling him that she will be by to pick it up if he does not send it. When he doesn't send it she goes to the factory and when he threatens her youngest sister by intimating he would kidnap her and sell her into white slavery she grabs the smaller man and slams him against the wall. His cronies crowd around her and let her know she isn't safe there so she runs away.
This is just the beginning of the battle between the Kopp sisters and Kaufman. He will drive by and threaten them and send bricks through the window with messages. Constance ends up getting help from Sherrif Heath who gives both her and Norma guns, hence the title of the book. He also provides men to guard the house when things become quite dangerous for them.
There's also the story of Lucy Banks a young mother who had a baby out of wedlock with Kaufman. When the silk factory went on strike last year she was forced to send her small child away to New York City to be seen to by others because she had no food to feed her child. But her child did not come back after the strike ended and when she went to New York City to try to find him asking after the woman who was taking care of him no one had heard of her. Constance becomes involved in helping Lucy to look for her child.
When you get to the end of this book you find out in the author's notes that the events in this book, with the exception of the story about Lucy Banks, was all true. Stewart fictionalized something that really happened in New Jersey in 1914. She even includes in the book actual pieces from newspapers of the day. That just makes a really great book that much cooler. Each sister's personality is so uniquely theirs. Constance is the protective older sister who is seeking something more from life, Norma is the sensible, curmudgeon middle sister who has kept the family together, and Fleurette is the innocent, fanciful youngest sister who would get into lots of trouble if the other two didn't have her locked up in the middle of nowhere on a farm. I really loved this book and seeing as Stewart decided to continue the stories of these women as a series I cannot wait to read the next book to find out what trouble the three sisters find themselves in next.
Quotes
Fleurette loves secrets because she enjoys telling people things they aren’t supposed to know. I prefer to tell people the things they are supposed to know.
-Amy Stewart (Girl Waits With Gun p 201)
If I could give something to Fleurette—if I could give her one silent gift from a mother she didn’t know she had—it would be this: the realization that we have to be a part of the world in which we live. We don’t scurry away when we’re in trouble, or when someone else is. We don’t run and hide.
-Amy Stewart (Girl Waits With Gun p 308)*My book club was lucky enough to talk to Ms. Stewart via Skype during one of our meetings. She shared with us where she got the idea to write this book. While researching information on her book The Drunken Botanist which is about making liquor from plants, she learned about Haufman who was a gin runner. Reading about Haufman uncovered the story of the Kopp sisters. She had figured out some things about Fleurette on her own but had them confirmed as well as found out some other information from Fleurette's son. I found Ms. Stewart to be quite gracious and patient with my group and its questions. It was a very enjoyable experience. `
Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Waits-Kopp-Sisters-Novel-ebook/dp/B00QPHKR3M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519824237&sr=8-2&keywords=amy+stewart+books
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