The Operator by Gretchen Berg

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This book is so much fun! Set in the small town of Wooster, Ohio in the 1950s, it is a dishy, gossipy book that’s perfect for reading on the porch. Vivian Dalton is a switchboard operator and has the unfortunate bad habit of listening in on other people’s phone calls. Vivian learns an awful lot about her neighbors during these conversations and as the reader, we get an inside look at her thoughts on those neighbors. It’s while listening to the call between one of the town’s socialites that Vivian realizes she is the center of their gossip. It’s while investigating the caller’s outrageous claims that Vivian will uncover a secret so large that she will upend the entire town. 

It’s so good friends!  It’s low stakes drama which makes it an even more enjoyable read. No one is going to die. No bodies are found, the dogs are all safe. It’s just straight up juicy small-town gossip and verbal backstabbing. 

Imagine the power you could wield as a switchboard operator. Knowing every person’s business. Knowing who is having the affairs, who received bad medical news, who is dating someone out of their league. Vivian’s character was so interesting because she loved her job. It was interesting to see a female character set in this time having a career and enjoying the freedom that career provided. She didn’t have that mom guilt or felt like she was struggling to balance anything. How refreshing.    

Vivian really isn’t a likable character. She has a lot of flaws. She’s very nosy and isn’t a generally happy person. She ignores her daughter and puts herself first in nearly every decision she makes. The dynamics of the women’s social circles was really interesting. There is so much attention paid to who wore what, how much make-up someone has on, and what is in other’s shopping carts. The amount of speculation that could be done over which eyebrow pencil a woman used that morning was fascinating. Growing up in a small town, I could relate to many of the social politics. At one point, it’s explained how the first five pews in the church are reserved for those who donate over $1,000 a year. When someone has the nerve to sit in one of those pews and the rest know that they don’t belong in that pew...whew!  Small town drama is portrayed perfectly in this novel and I really, really enjoyed it. 

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This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. Also, I borrowed this book from the Library.