Introduction

The latest novel from the bestselling author of Dollface and What the Lady Wants takes us deep into the tumultuous world of 1950s Chicago where a female journalist struggles with the heavy price of ambition...

Every second of every day, something is happening. There’s a story out there buried in the muck, and Jordan Walsh, coming from a family of esteemed reporters, wants to be the one to dig it up. But it’s 1955, and the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female cub reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column.

Even with her journalistic legacy and connections to luminaries like Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, and Ernest Hemingway, Jordan struggles to be taken seriously. Of course, that all changes the moment she establishes a secret source inside Mayor Daley’s office and gets her hands on some confidential information. Now careers and lives are hanging on Jordan’s every word. But if she succeeds in landing her stories on the front page, there’s no guarantee she’ll remain above the fold.…

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Excerpt

The following Friday afternoon the guys in the city room were clowning around, ganging up on Peter. Someone hid his eyeshade and he had worked himself into a state trying to find it.
I was on deadline for a fashion feature on self-belted Bermuda shorts. And this was one of the more exciting assignments I’d been given lately. I had ten column inches for this piece, a lot of space to fill with seersucker versus linen, versus plaid versus solid. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Back in the 1950s newspapers were everyone’s primary source of news. Do you think in general we are less informed about local, national and world events due to the decline of newspapers? Or do you think we are better informed due to the immediacy of things like Twitter and 24/7 cable news?

2. A major theme in WHITE COLLAR GIRL is women in the workplace and the challenges they faced in trying to break through the glass ceiling. How do you see the challenges facing career women in the 1950s as compare to those found in today’s workplace? In what ways have we advanced and in what ways do you feel were still stuck?

3. Do you still read a daily newspaper and if so, do you prefer to read your news in print or online? If you read online, what are the advantages and what are the things you miss about not reading the paper in hard copy form?

4. WHITE COLLAR GIRL draws upon many real life scandals that took place during the 1950s and early 60s. At various points in the book, the main character is confronted with moral issues over what she is willing to do in order to get a story. In some cases she even bends the law. Do you think reporters are justified in going to any length in order to expose the truth

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