The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

When I was reading it, it was all so obvious to me as a modern reader, I had to keep reminding myself that these characters are living in a completely different time where two sisters inheriting from their parents and buying a house without a man could have been considered scandalous and uncommon. I really liked how Helen – the older sister and nurse – is so much more worldly and knowledgeable about the “real world” compared to her younger, more sheltered sister. While none of it is graphic, it definitely piles on, especially when paired with the backdrop of a world war and a pandemic killing hundreds of people.Įven so, the author does a great job creating each one of these characters, and I especially liked Helen and Lutie.

While this isn’t necessarily surprising in this author’s writing, I don’t remember having so many awful subjects piled on top of each other – child abuse, rape, murder, spousal abuse. The topics in this book are particularly heavy. Not only do Helen and Lutie have to contend with the war abroad and avoiding the Spanish Flu, but they also have to protect this man’s daughter from being sent to an even worse situation while hoping no one prosecutes them for murder. There, they take in basement lodgers to help pay for their house, which is fine until Lutie comes home from work one to find Helen standing over the dead body of the horribly abusive husband and father of one of them with a bloody ice pick in her hand. Set during WWI and with the Spanish Flu terrorizing people throughout the United States, two sisters – Helen and Lutie – move to Denver after their parents’ deaths.

(But really, if you haven’t read The Persian Pickle Club yet, what are you waiting for?) However, while this one wasn’t necessarily one of my favorites ever by this author, I still really enjoyed reading it. This one was a bit harder of a read for me – I don’t know if it was just that I am burnt out living through our own modern-day pandemic or if my expectations were just too high. I’ve been reading books by Sandra Dallas since The Persian Pickle Club, and I always enjoy her style of writing.

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas