Surviving 26th Street

by Carol June Stover

The year is 1954, and Laura Justice’s ambitious husband, Winton, makes a decision that shocks family and friends. He moves his Memphis family North, vowing to strike it rich on Madison Avenue and savor the pleasures of suburban life. This does not happen. The southern family is a poor fit in their New Jersey neighborhood, and loyal wife Laura feels ostracized. What’s more, Winton’s advertising agency soon fails, and he becomes depressed and combative. 1950s women are supposed to obey, but Laura Justice refuses to stay mute. She dares to complain when Winton launches a new business selling wire recorders (the very latest technology!) from their basement. Incensed at his uncooperative wife, Winton persists, bringing chaos to their family, including his strange parents, a creepy employee and a sexy neighbor, not to mention financial disaster. A tireless fixer, Laura tries to stem Winton’s antics and stop the cash drain, to no avail. Meanwhile, the couple’s children are caught in their parent’s cross fire, drifting around the neighborhood and depending on neighbors for fun and attention. When 9-year old daughter Jane rises above the crisis to help police solve the crime, Laura is inspired to take action too. Defying 1950 taboos, she struggles to make a life-changing Should she rein in husband Winton and his maddening life style...or at long last cut bait?

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2013

About the author

Ms. Stover (Carol June Gibbs) grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and graduated from Cornell University in 1965 with highest honors from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. She launched her marketing career in Boston, Massachusetts where she held executive positions with well-known Boston hotel groups. In 1998 she ventured into writing, authoring three nonfiction books and over 100 magazine articles in national publications. Turning to fiction in 2004, Ms. Stover’s first novel, Current River Redemption won an IPPY Award for Regional Southern Fiction. Her second novel, Surviving 26th Street received a first place 2013 award for literary fiction from Reader Views and the Beverly Hills Book Awards first place award for literary fiction. Ms. Stover’s third novel, Kenmore Square, was Inspired by her years of working in Boston and her fascination with the famous Kenmore Square in the ‘60s, The work received a five-star review from Reader’s Favorite (readersfavorite.com). Her collection of Short Stories, "Melanie to the Rescue and Other Unlikely Stories will be published in the fall of 2018. Ms. Stover now resides in Sandwich, MA and Fort Myers, FL with her husband Frank Stover.

Reviews

[Amelia]

Winton Justice plucks his family from Memphis and moves them into suburban New Jersey, eager to score wealth and prosperity. His wife Laura finds it difficult to fit in, and despite her husband’s attempts to achieve his goals, it doesn’t happen. This is 1954 when women do what their husbands tell them to do, but not Laura. She does her best to prevent her husband from dragging the entire family down with him. Despite her hope for him, she realizes even her children are suffering, and she must decide whether she wants to fix things one more time or let go.

Obedience is one of the key traits for a woman of the 1950s. Defying one’s husband isn’t something a woman would normally do, but Laura is an example of the women who paved the way for feminism and women’s rights while still struggling to stay loyal to her family. Readers will feel her pain and frustration, most likely abandoning Winton long before Laura considers doing so. A true window into an era long gone, Surviving 26th Street is a novel that’s both timely and indicative of the women of today’s world.

[READER VIEWS]

Reviewed by Jennifer for Reader Views (10/13)

“Surviving 26th Street” by Carol June Stover is just an amazing book! I found it to be completely flawless. Flawless editing, flawless flow and absolutely perfect! Did I mention it was perfect?

The story is set in 1954 in a time where wives were to be submissive to their husbands and take care of home. Laura Justice is the wife of Winton and mother of Jane and Denton. Laura is a smart woman who refused to date Winton back in their high-school days. She thought he was just over the top with his arrogance. Later on down the road, when they were all grown up, they ended up getting married. Just before her wedding she got an unwelcoming taste of exactly who she was marrying and kept going anyway. The details of this part of the story are told as flashbacks, giving much more insight to this couple.

Winton happens to be that entrepreneurial guy who takes such risks it puts his family in jeopardy, in more ways than one. Jane is nine-years-old and super witty for her age. No one can get anything past her. Jane takes care of her brother while her mom goes out to hopefully find a job since Winton has really done it this time, depleting the little savings they did have. Action was in her hands and she didn’t care what Winton says because he is the one to blame.

“Surviving 26th Street” opens up with the thoughts of little Jane and her summer trying to figure out why her southern accent is such a big deal in New Jersey. Throughout the book, Jane proves to be a little detective, and very good at it too. Because she is so young, the adults don’t pay much attention when she gives information that will later prove to be very important.

Each character is well thought out. You will love the Justice family, well not Winton, and cheer them on as they get over life’s humps. I particularly loved this book because I consider myself a southern belle and I found myself actually reading in a very southern dialect. Once I started reading “Surviving 26th Street,” I really couldn’t put it down. I am really hoping that Carol June Stover writes more and I believe that any woman could really enjoy this tale.

If I could give “Surviving 26th Street” by Carol June Stover 10 bright, shiny stars I would. I highly recommend this title to every woman looking for a good chick-lit read; summer, winter, spring or fall!

[Miranda Prather]

A clash of cultures, a difficult time to be a woman, and finding the strength to overcome it all face Laura Justice in Carol June Stover's Surviving 26th Street. The effects of the fighting between Laura and her husband, Winton, are most poignantly shown by Stover in the character of Jane, their nine year old daughter. Jane is one of those rare characters in literature, like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, that will stay with readers long after they have finished the book. Stover shows a rare talent with Jane of being able to infuse a real pulse, a true life into words on paper. No matter how interesting the story or fascinating the plot, a book will fail to reach readers without a character that they can truly connect with and care about. To be sure, Surviving 26th Street has enough mystery and intrigue in the story that readers will be interested, but their connection with Jane will allow them to live the story along with the youngster and find the events haunting them.

[Savannah Mae]

EXCELLENT!!! One of the best books I have read this year. Flawless editing and ohhhiieeeeee I loved it!!! Highly recommended for my all my ladies!