Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl's Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age

by Coco Irvine, Peg Meier

On Christmas Day, 1926, twelve-year-old Clotilde “Coco” Irvine received a blank diary as a present. Coco loved to write—and to get into scrapes—and her new diary gave her the opportunity to explain her side of the messes she created: “I’m in deep trouble through no fault of my own,” her entries frequently began. The daughter of a lumber baron, Coco grew up in a twenty-room mansion on fashionable Summit Avenue at the peak of the Jazz Age, a time when music, art, and women’s social status were all in a state of flux and the economy was still flying high.

Coco’s diary carefully records her adventures, problems, and romances, written with a lively wit and a droll sense of humor. Whether sneaking out to a dance hall in her mother’s clothes or getting in trouble for telling an off-color joke, Coco and her escapades will captivate and delight preteen readers as well as their mothers and grandmothers.

Peg Meier’s introduction describes St. Paul life in the 1920s and provides context for the privileged world that Coco inhabits, while an afterword tells what happens to Coco as an adult—and reveals surprises about some of the other characters in the diary.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Biography, Book Club, Childrens, Biography Memoir

104 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2011

About the author

Peg Meier, a longtime and award-winning reporter for the "Minneapolis Star Tribune," is the author of "Too Hot, Went to Lake: Seasonal Photos from Minnesota's Past "and "Bring Warm Clothes: Letters and Photos from Minnesota's Past."
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Reviews

[Eloise Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

This charming little book was a surprise gift from a friend, and I sat down and read it with a pot of coffee on the morning it arrived in the mail. What a delight! For a 13-year old, Coco has a wonderfully perceptive take on the world, and her exploits are a unique glimpse into the Jazz Age and social strata of that time. It occurred to me that my Mother was born in the upper Midwest only a few months before Coco,and while the their economic situations were vastly different, Coco's diary let me see into the teenage mind of a contemporary, which was an added gift.

Minnesotans are fortunate to have had Peg Meier chronicling quotidian life all these years, and now in her retirement she is delving into archives and discovering more treasures for her readers to enjoy.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it must have been edited by adult Coco more than Meir is willing to admit (even to herself). And I was hoping for more about the wider world (but then, Coco is 13; she's naturally self-centered). Fun short read for anyone, definitely not just children, interested in an introduction to the time and place. Compare and contrast with Bachelor Girl, which I gave 4.5 rounded up to five stars.

This gets 3.5, rounded down because I wish Meir had given us more context etc.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun! Coco Irvine was the daughter of a wealthy, socially prominent St. Paul, Minnesota family, and this is the diary she kept in 1927, when she was 13. Coco was a character! So funny, observant, boy crazy, and naughty - though she frequently wrote that the scrapes she got into were “through no fault of my own.” Her large, boisterous family is a big part of her diary, as are her friends and a boy she has a crush on, who is only referred to as Him.

Coco was clearly a natural writer, so it’s too bad she didn’t turn her childhood experiences into a novel or memoir. Still, it’s nice to have this adorable little book in print. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute little collection of diary entries. I wish there were more.

[Laura McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very amusing diary, I laughed out loud several times!

[Verena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through No Fault of My Own by Coco Irvine is a delightful peek into a year in the life of a 13 year-old girl in 1927. Hers was not the life of a typical teenager. She was born into a family of immense wealth, amassed when the lumber industry was at its peak in Minnesota. Her St. Paul address was Summit Avenue and she was used to all the advantages that money and family position could buy. But her diary reveals she had the typical concerns of a teenager: having a boyfriend, breaking rules, getting into trouble with her parents.

This little volume is 65 pages, plus photos and an insightful introduction and afterword by Peg Meier, retired reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She found Coco's diary by chance while looking in the Minnesota Historical Society Archives. This is a perfect choice to read in the hammock on a summer day.

[Becky Loader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coco Irvine was a real little girl who grew up in a privileged Minnesota family. I usually love reading the diary format, but I just couldn't get into Coco's life and writing.

[bluerose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I read a review comparing Coco, the author and writer of this diary, to Betsy (Maud) of the Betsy-Tacy/Deep Valley series, AKA my favorite series of all time. Having spent a great deal of time (decades later of course) in the neighborhood where Coco lived made me even more eager to read about her life growing up there in the Jazz Age. This was interesting.

RMCWR:

Well how can you not like a book which declares on its first page that NO ONE MUST READ A WORD FURTHER UNDER PAIN OF DEATH.

Coco is short for Clotilde.

Oh my, that WAS a dirty joke back in 1927. (But how was she supposed to KNOW that?)

I'm going to keep track of the number of times she says "through no fault of my own" (surprisingly, just three).

There are pranks. And then there is FAKING A RADIO BROADCAST SAYING THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN ASSASSINATED.

"Kissing is not as serious a demeanor as necking...this other girl...does both horizontally and vertically (whatever that means)." Oh boy.

So "turn turtle" is a real expression after all.

This is the first reference I've ever seen to the magazine Captain Billy's Whiz Bang outside of The Music Man (did I even know it was a magazine?).

"Son-of-a-seacook". Delightful. (Not that this prevents her from swearing elsewhere.)

Describing someone as having a "pastel personality" calls up a very specific image.

"Isn't it killing?" I heard that in Betsy Ray's voice.

"You have to put up with lots of indignities when you are thirteen."

She married her older sister's boyfriend! The one who thought she was a charming little girl! I'm going to choose to find that sweet, especially as he died at a tragically young age and she went through a LOT after his death. Also, she looks so much like...someone...in the photos near the end of the book and that's going to bug me until I figure it out.

[Margie Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Christmas Day, 1926, twelve-year-old Clotilde “Coco” Irvine received a blank diary as a present. Coco loved to write—and to get into scrapes—and her new diary gave her the opportunity to explain her side of the messes she created: “I’m in deep trouble through no fault of my own,” her entries frequently began. The daughter of a lumber baron, Coco grew up in a twenty-room mansion on fashionable Summit Avenue at the peak of the Jazz Age, a time when music, art, and women’s social status were all in a state of flux and the economy was still flying high.
Coco’s diary carefully records her adventures, problems, and romances, written with a lively wit and a droll sense of humor. Whether sneaking out to a dance hall in her mother’s clothes or getting in trouble for telling an off-color joke, Coco and her escapades will captivate and delight preteen readers as well as their mothers and grandmothers.
Peg Meier’s introduction describes St. Paul life in the 1920s and provides context for the privileged world that Coco inhabits, while an afterword tells what happens to Coco as an adult—and reveals surprises about some of the other characters in the diary.

[Patrice Doten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed my way through this delightful glimpse into the lives of St. Paul’s upper class in the 1920’s, as seen through the eyes of a mischievous 13-year-old socialite.

My enjoyment was marred only by its brevity, as well as an entry near the end about her brother’s ongoing inappropriate conduct toward much younger neighbor girls. Coco recorded it because it seemed strange to her and she didn’t like it, but at her age, she didn’t really grasp why. The situation seemed eerily and disturbingly familiar to me, as a survivor of childhood abuse.

However, it was a very brief mention and the rest of the book was such a fun romp. I could’ve happily read through several more years of Coco’s diaries, so I much appreciated the appendix with photos and brief summaries of what became of Coco and her family. I may have to do some digging to see what else is recorded about her life.

[Cristiana Hawthorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish more people knew about this book! Especially Minnesota residents. It’s about Coco, a troublesome 13-year-old growing up in Jazz-age Saint Paul, on famous Summit Avenue. Her misadventures has me laughing out loud.


*SPOILER*
I don’t know if it’s really a spoiler if it’s about the rest of her life, when she died in 1970s... but i marked it that just in case! ;) But hearing that her first husband died unexpectedly and she was an anxious and fearful adult, made me really sad. She was such a spunky kid and I’d like to believe that even anxious and fearful, she managed to keep some of her spirit. I like to hope so, anyway.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming vignette (a diary actually) of a precocious child living amongst wealth in the 1920's in Minnesota. Coco Irvine lived down the street from F. Scott Fitzgerald (although likely they never met), in what is now the mansion lived in by the Governor of Minnesota, in St. Paul. You don't learn a lot about the extended world in which she lived, but get a wisp of the voice of this bright yet very ordinary girl.

[Heather Lisson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an interesting read. I love historical memoirs, particularly ones about prominent families and ones that have a Minnesota connection. This book had both! I read this book in one sitting. It is the diary of one year (1927) in the life of Coco Irvine who grew up on Summit Avenue in St. Paul in what is now the Govenror's Mansion. The book also contains a forward and afterward disclosing more about Coco's life as well as some photos of the Irvine family.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful little book is actually the diary of a 13 year old girl for the year 1927. She grew up on Summit Avenue in St. Paul in what is now the Governor's mansion, but the family's wealth did nothing to curb this gals enthusiasm. I found this charming and often laugh out loud funny! Loved it!

[Elizabeth Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copyright 2011–This is the wonderfully entertaining, often hilarious, real diary of Coco, a real 13-year-old girl living in an affluent neighborhood of Saint Paul, MN in 1927. Coco is more than willing to push the boundaries set by her parents in order to do what she wants. She is also a born writer whose lively prose is not to be missed. This very short read is an absolute delight.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick dash through the world of a thirteen year old in 1927. This is her diary of that year. It's filled with tales of the mischief she got up to that year, through no fault of her own, of course. It's a fun, quick read.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super short book. I loved this book. Quick read about from a diary they found of a 13-year-old girl living on Summit Avenue, Minnesota, during the Jazz Age. Love reading how a 1922 year teen thinks the same way a teen thinks in 2022.

[Alina · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was no plot to it, and all of the characters lacked character to themselves.

[Coleen Dorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! I highly recommend it. It is short, sweet and fun to read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Word for word the same as the play, so the playwright was very true to the source. Delightful!

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping to read about what life was like in my home city in the 1920s, but it really is a 13 year old girl diary and not a very adventurous one at that.

[Chris Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, amusing read. It made me smile.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful, fun book to brighten your day!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely charming!

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! So entertaining!

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slim book was sent from a friend who knew I had a connection to this location. It was a great hoot to read - laugh-out-loud funny!

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hated to see this one end. An absolute delight.

[Christine Kuffel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 cute and fun

[Katie Holland]

Unfaulted

A cute, fun, and easy read! This is a good little read for a look at growing up in the 1920's.

[Mary Strand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming; a quick but fun glimpse at another time. One commenter complained that there wasn't a plot. Helloooo: this is a diary, not a novel.