The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay
Published: August 12,
2025 by Gallery Books
Genre: Historical
Fiction, Coming of Age
1926: Charlotte Crowninshield was born into one of the finest Boston society families. Now she’s on the run from a brutal husband, desperate to disappear into the wilds of the Southwest. Billie MacTavish is the oldest of nine children born to Scottish immigrants in Nebraska. She quit school in the sixth grade to help with her mother’s washing and mending business, but even that isn’t enough to keep the family afloat.
Desperate, both women join the ranks of the Harvey Girls, waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad. Hired on the same day, they share three things: a room, a heartfelt dislike of each other…and each has a secret that will certainly get them fired.
Through twelve-hour days of training in Topeka, Kansas, they learn the fine art of service, perfecting their skills despite bouts of homesickness, fear of being discovered, and a run-in with the KKK. When they’re sent to work at the luxurious El Tovar hotel at the Grand Canyon, the challenges only grow, as Billie struggles to hide her young age from would-be suitors, and Charlotte discovers the little-known dark side of the national park’s history.
My Thoughts: Juliette
Fay is a must-read author. Every book
of hers that I have read is my new favorite.
I rave about it to my fellow historical fiction readers and then cannot
wait for them to read the book so we can talk about it.
The Harvey Girls is a story about girls who work at
restaurants on the train route. This
book is about 2 girls who are working for different reasons. Billie needs to send money back to her
family and Charlotte (great name) is hiding from an abusive husband. I enjoyed that the characters were developed
enough so that I felt like I knew them. I could feel their sadness at missing their
families, celebrate their successes, and cheer them on when they were
struggling.
Thank you Gallery Books for a copy of the book in exchange
for my honest review.
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Juliette graduated from Boston College with a double major
in human development and theology, which qualified her for thinking deeply
about the state of humanity, but not for much else. She joined the Jesuit
Volunteer Corps and worked at an emergency shelter in Seattle, Washington,
started a day care for homeless families, and volunteered at children’s ward in
a Guatemalan hospital for the poor. Returning to Boston, she taught at a school
for autistic children.
After receiving a degree in public policy from the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University, she worked at the state child abuse
prevention agency and ran a parenting education program. While all of these
jobs gave her even more fodder for ruminating on the state of humanity, none of
them paid very well, and she waitressed a lot to shore up her often laughable
income.
Along the way, she married Tom Fay, a former Jesuit
Volunteer who continued to be smart, kind, funny, and dashingly handsome long
after his volunteer days were over, and they had four children. Juliette
assumed a return to government work lay in her future; however, fate intervened
when she read a really bad book. It made her wonder if she couldn’t do a little
better—if she could just commit to paper the stories that ran in her head like
movie marathons. She began tapping away at her computer while the younger kids
napped, between the fights over who pinched who first, and at night after the
older kids had wrestled their homework to the ground.
Juliette’s first published novel, Shelter Me,
was designated as one of the ten best works of fiction in 2009 by the
Massachusetts Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. It
was named to the Indie Next List of the American Booksellers Association,
chosen as one of six novels for Target’s 2009 Bookmarked Club, and was a Good
Housekeeping featured Book Pick. Deep Down True was
short-listed for the 2011 Women’s Fiction Award of the American Library
Association. The Shortest Way Home was named to Library
Journal’s Top 5 Best Books of 2012: Women’s Fiction. The Tumbling
Turner Sisters was a USA Today bestseller and the
Costco Pennie’s Book Club Pick in January 2017. City of
Flickering Light was published 2019, and Catch Us When We
Fall in 2021, and The Half of It in 2023. Her work
has been translated into Polish, German, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese
(Brazil), Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, and Slovak.
What others are saying…
“Juliette Fay’s gift for creating complex, exquisitely human
characters” (Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling
author) is on full display in this deeply moving and joyous celebration of
female empowerment, loyalty, and friendship.
"Fay brings to life a fascinating piece of jazz-age
history through the lens of two women who, at first glance, appear to have
nothing in common besides their jobs at a fast-paced restaurant chain that was
once ubiquitous. The novel crackles with secrets while also
highlighting the struggles of women trying to make their way in an unforgiving
world."
—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The
Stolen Queen
"THE HARVEY GIRLS is a heartwarming, satisfying
read centering on two well-drawn characters from opposite sides of the
track. As Billie and Charlotte seek one of the few opportunities for security
and independence for women in the 1920s at the Harvey Hotels and railway
service, their eyes are opened to a side of America they've never experienced.
As an unlikely friendship forms, their loyalty--and their views of who they are
as people--is tested. Compulsively readable and immersive, Fay writes
another winner!"
–Heather Webb, USA Today bestselling author of Queens of
London
"Set against the sweeping backdrop of 1920s America,
The Harvey Girls shines a light on a little-known chapter of women’s history
with warmth and insight. Juliette Fay brings to life the world of railroad
hospitality with rich period detail, illuminating how two women
from vastly different backgrounds forge a path forward in a rapidly changing
country. This is historical fiction at its most transportive—grounded,
vivid, and unexpectedly moving.”
– New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline
"Fay’s enjoyable yet convoluted tale of friendship,
love, and tribulations, set mostly in the breathtaking Grand Canyon area, is an
intriguing look into the world of the Harvey Girls, with a well-developed plot
and characters that bring the era to life."
– Library Journal, starred review
“The Harvey Girls may be Juliette Fay’s best historical
novel to date, full of unforgettable women, juicy conflict, and
fascinating facts about an underexplored chapter in the history of the
American West. A must-read.”
–Greer Macallister, bestselling author of The Thirteenth
Husband and The Arctic Fury
“THE HARVEY GIRLS is Juliette Fay at her very best: a
gorgeously written, impeccably-researched novel filled with resilient and
beautifully drawn female characters. Billie and Charlotte will capture
readers’ hearts and bring them back in time to a true and fascinating
historical piece of the west in this powerful story of female
friendship, strength, and ultimately love.”
– Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of
Beautiful Little Fools
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