The Operator is Now Live!
The Operator
Author: Gretchen Berg
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: March 10, 2020
Genre: Fiction/ Small Town Fiction
A clever, surprising, and ultimately moving debut novel, set in a small Midwestern town in the early 1950s, about a nosy switchboard operator who overhears gossip involving her own family, and the unraveling that discovery sets into motion.
In a small town, everyone knows everyone else’s business . . .
Nobody knows the people of Wooster, Ohio, better than switchboard operator Vivian Dalton, and she’d be the first to tell you that. She calls it intuition. Her teenage daughter, Charlotte, calls it eavesdropping.
Vivian and the other women who work at Bell on East Liberty Street connect lines and lives. They aren’t supposed to listen in on conversations, but they do, and they all have opinions on what they hear—especially Vivian. She knows that Mrs. Butler’s ungrateful daughter, Maxine, still hasn’t thanked her mother for the quilt she made, and that Ginny Frazier turned down yet another invitation to go to the A&W with Clyde Walsh.
Then, one cold December night, Vivian listens in on a call between that snob Betty Miller and someone whose voice she can’t quite place and hears something shocking. Betty Miller’s mystery friend has news that, if true, will shatter Vivian’s tidy life in Wooster, humiliating her and making her the laughingstock of the town.
Vivian may be mortified, but she isn’t going to take this lying down. She’s going to get to the bottom of that rumor—get into it, get under it, poke around in the corners. Find every last bit. Vivian wants the truth, no matter how painful it may be.
But as Vivian is about to be reminded, in a small town like Wooster, one secret usually leads to another. . . .
Praise for THE OPERATOR:
“Berg's storytelling is warm, sympathetic and witty. . . . There are more than enough quotable lines to fill a couple of reviews.” — Kirkus Reviews
“I finished reading The Operator in an unstoppable rush and it was every bit as glorious, gossipy, delicious, and perfect as I’d hoped. Absolutely heaven!” — Jill Mansell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Maybe This Time
"What if you could listen in on any phone conversation in town? With great humor and insight, The Operator by Gretchen Berg delivers a vivid look inside the heads and hearts of a group of housewives and pokes at the absurdities of 1950s America, a simpler time that was far from simple. Think 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' in the suburbs -- with delicious turns of jealousy, infidelity, bigotry, and embezzlement thrown in for good measure. The Operator is irresistible!" — Kathryn Stockett, author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Help
Gretchen Berg
Gretchen Berg was born on the East Coast, raised in the Midwest, and spent a number of years in the Pacific Northwest. She has taught English in South Korea and in Northern Iraq and has traveled to all the other continents. A graduate of Iowa State University, she lives in Chicago, Illinois. The Operator is her first novel. For more information, please visit: www.gretchenbergbooks.com
Vivian Dalton is a switchboard operator who often hears things that she shouldn't, she knows it goes against the rules to listen to patrons phone conversations, but that doesn't keep her from doing it. It's just a little harmless town gossip.
Then one day a call comes through and she happens to hear some things about a family secret that she was never meant to know, and suddenly her listening in doesn't seem so innocent after all.
The Operator gives you a glimpse into the life of a 1950's phone operator Vivian Dalton, her job affords her the opportunity to listen in on the latest town gossip, even though she has been warned not too. It's evident that Vivian knows what she is doing is wrong, but her little habit becomes a lot more addictive than she expected it too, and it lands her in a place she never considered. Watching her habit unravel was quite entertaining, at times her adventure brought humor to the pages, and other times it brought a bit of suspense and emotional drama too... it was a nice well rounded story. I've got to say I really enjoyed this first time read, it words kept my eyes glued to the pages from beginning to end! Highly recommend!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntairly leaving my honest opinion.
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