One Way Street

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One Way Street (1937) by Joseph McCord ⭐⭐⭐

My copy has a beat up dust cover, but it’s cool that it’s there! It’s funny, because the cover really gives off the wrong impression about what kind of book this is going to be. Even the description inside the dust cover kind of misrepresents the book!

Inside is written in pencil “Ella Lucker” and another name in blue pen, “B. F. Carlton”.

One Way Street ends up being a decent book, and really isn’t the romance novel it is marketed as.

Mark Sturges is the new manager in a big department store on what they call the Iron Block. In passing, he meets Jean, the advertising artist for the dress department. Edythe Cannon, the boss’s daughter, tells her father that Jean just must be let go, for reasons that the reader has yet to learn, so Mr. Cannon tells her direct manager to fire her. Mark overhears this, and, since he has a contract that says he has all employee payroll control, he arranges it so that she can keep her job.

We find out that Jean Stewart, her siblings, and her mother are judged by the actions of her father. Her father was sentenced to 6 years for embezzling from the bank in which he worked, and this has made it hard on them.

Meanwhile, the boss’s daughter tries to make Mark her boyfriend, but he has no interest, though he must go with her places because she’s the boss’s daughter.

I like Jean’s character. It’s fleshed out pretty well, and the visits that Mark gives the family seem pretty real. They made me want to be there, in Jean’s house, laughing and getting to know her siblings. These are the parts where Mark’s character really stands out.

Jean has an older best friend, Nan, who owns a beauty shop in town, and knows most of the goings on because of the things the patrons talk about. She’s a fun character, and adds a bit of level-headedness when Jean goes to her for advice. I’d like to have a person like Nan Gamble as a friend.

The end is a little gooey, and the beginning when he is noticing Jean is a little cringy, but overall I liked the book. It did take a while to get into, but it was worth it to meet Jean.