In five days, Random House Trade Paperback’s issue of MRS. SOMEBODY SOMEBODY will be available in stores. The book is a Reader’s Circle Selection, which means someone other than me thinks it’s a good one for book clubs. Included in the back is an essay I wrote telling about the story behind the writing of the first story, as well as a reader’s guide to focus reading groups and get them talking about what they think.
The paperback has a jazzy new cover. Susy Pilgrim Water’s illustrations grace the start of each story as they did SMU Press’s hardcover edition. If you found this blog by coming through my website, you’ve already seen some of Susy’s gorgeous, quirky work.
I’ll be updating this blog as the days count down. I hope to see you at a reading/signing soon.
Tracy Winn's Blog 
December 9, 2010 at 5:26 pm |
I enjoyed reading about the baby and the mills in Lowell. When I was 16 I worked as a creeler for Lawrence Manufacturing which was right next to Hub Hosiery. A creeler places the yarn on the top spindles of a circular knitting machine, so the knitters wouldnt have to stop the machine to add more yarn. The knitters worked piece work and would become very upset if the spindle ran out of yarn. For my efforts I earned $1.80 per hour. I hated that job. I got fired after about 10 months because I made sure to miss work at least one day a week. Working in those mills is every bit as miserable as you describe. I was attending Lowell Trade High School, studying to be an electrician. My mill experience reinforced my commitment to become an electrician. I worked in the mill in 1967 as they were tearing down Little Canada in the name of Urban Renewal. Little Canada was the name given to the neighborhood that stretched from Moody street to the edge of the northern canal, with the three and four story tenement buildings built right up to the edge of the canal.