Saturday's Child

by Kathleen Thompson Norris

A novel by Kathleen Thompson Norris, who was an American novelist, and wife of fellow writer, Charles Norris whom she wed in 1909. She was educated in a special course in the University of California and wrote many popular romance novels that some considered sentimental and honest in their prose. Norris was the highest-paid female writer of her time, and many of her novels are held in high regard today. Many of her novels were set in California, particularly the San Francisco area. They feature detailed descriptions of the upperclass lifestyle. Her works include Mother (1911), The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne (1912), Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby (1913), The Treasure (1914), Saturday's Child (1914), The Heart of Rachael (1916), Martie the Unconquered (1917), Josselyn's Wife (1918), Harriet and the Piper (1920), The Beloved Woman (1921), Beauty's Daughter (1935), adapted for the 1935 motion picture Navy Wife, Over at the Crowleys (1941), and The Maiden Voyage (1942).

Genres: Fiction

Unbound

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Educated at the University of California, Kathleen married Charles Gilman Norris, brother of the late Benjamin Franklin Norris, Junior, in 1909. She was a prolific author, producing over 80 novels in addition to numerous short stories and articles. Norris was a regular contributor to leading magazines such as Atlantic and Ladies' Home Journal. Her first novel, Lost Sunrise, appeared in 1909 and was immediately popular. By the end of her career her books had sold over ten million copies and made her the highest paid female author of her day.

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Norris novel, and one of my very favorite books overall. It's often hard for me to distill my thoughts into a review of a book I really love, especially when it's a lengthy, richly-written slice-of-life novel like this one. Very simply put, it follows the fortunes of an utterly real and relatable heroine coming of age in turn-of-the-century San Francisco: her struggles to reconcile poverty and family obligations with dreams of wealth and luxury; her navigation of relationships and friendships that don’t turn out as expected; and her attempts to find a purpose for her life when it appears that romance and marriage might not be in her future. It's astonishing how relevant and thought-provoking this latter element in particular feels, even today in a very different time and culture.

I’ve greatly enjoyed several of Norris’ books (as well as given up on one that was a real dud), but Saturday's Child is the deepest and most lifelike—you really feel Susan's pain and confusion on the one hand, and eventual maturity and joy on the other; and the descriptions of everyday life are a window on the era and place that's like hopping into a time machine.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Brown wants it all. Tired of the drudgery of clerking in a busy office, tired of the same round of lunch with the office girls at noon, catching the trolley in the mornings in rain and slush, tired of the endless bills to log in and check, Susan is hoping for a better, easier life. The problem is that she doesn’t quite know all of what that life entails... but she is about to find out.

Enter Peter Coleman. Peter is a social darling; wealthy, assured, handsome and witty, he is immediately attracted to Susan and vice versa. Suddenly Susan is introduced to life on the ‘other side’ and she becomes caught up in the gaiety of social life among the comfortably wealthy. Although not at first confident in her new surroundings, and finding she has much to learn, she is enamored of the wealth and prestigious homes she is introduced to. However, and especially after she accepts a position as companion to one of Peter’s acquaintances, Susan begins to find that the life she thinks of as so easy and attractive is anything but.

“She saw the poisoned undercurrent of this glittering and exquisite existence, the selfishness, the cruelties, the narrowness. She saw its fundamental insincerity. In a world where wrongs were to be righted, and ignorance enlightened, and childhood sheltered and trained, she began to think it strange that strong, and young, and wealthy men and women should be content to waste enormous sums of money upon food to which they scarcely ever brought a normal appetite, upon bridge-prizes for guests whose interest in them scarcely survived the moment of unwrapping the dainty beribboned boxes in which they came, upon costly toys for children whose nurseries were already crowded with toys. She wondered that they should think it worthwhile to spend hours and days in harassing dressmakers and milliners, to make a brief appearance in the gowns they were so quickly ready to discard, that they should gratify every passing whim...”

But if the easy, carefree life Susan has so craved has its dark side, then where is poor Susan to find fulfillment and happiness? The reader may not be too surprised that after a her share of failed romances, Susan will discover that happiness entails (surprise!) not only companionship, but also hard work. Susan find fulfillment not within a life of idle luxury, but alongside a husband that shares her own values and is her true companion and friend. It is eye-opening to Susan to realize that joy can be found in the most simple of everyday pleasures, whether indulging in a dinner of fried oysters or a day spent picnicking in the countryside.

“Why, I was thinking that I’d rather,” Susan began hesitatingly, “rather have my work cut out for me in this life! That is, I’d rather begin at the bottom of the ladder, and work up to the top, than be at the top, through no merit of my own, and live in terror of falling to the bottom! I believe, from what I’ve seen of other people, that we’ll succeed, and I think we’ll have lots of fun doing it!”

A thought-provoking, satisfying read.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story spans the years 1901-1911 (though 1906-1911 are all covered in the final 2 chapters). It's main appeal to me was that it was set in San Francisco and presented an image of the place in time (California St was the upper crust place to live -- unless you were so upper crust that you lived in San Rafael -- and Fulton St was lower middle class while Mission was poverty). There were no bridges. Ferries plied the bay between the same points as today but much more often. Otherwise, the novel is pretty classic romance of the era.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I could see Who She Would End Up Marrying pretty much on his first appearance, but even so, this was grippingly readable - and is not a romance, it's not even one of those romance of finding a vocation books, but about getting on with the hand you're dealt.

[Oolookitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really loved this and would have given it 4 stars up until the romantic resolution and its aftermath, after which it limped to a pretty flat final few chapters and made me lose all interest.

[Kathleen Vincenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy, did I enjoy the beginning of the novel, the section titled Poverty. Kathleen Norris really captured what it was like to be one of the first female office workers. Lots of detail on clothing, their tasks, and their habits. Being a female office worker in the 2000's, I enjoyed how similar the sense of community was and how dissimilar the level of technology--how many hand calculations! According to the National Courier, Norris drew on her own experience as a bookkeeper for this section and you can tell. Write what you know may be a cliche but it is a true one.

However, the rest of the novel rambled and became a bit pedantic. When Mrs. Carroll droned on and on about poverty and living well through it, I yawned and yawned. Especially since she had several of these droning opportunities. If only Norris had tightened the novel, and eased up a bit on the class theory, it would have been a terrific novel. She should have believed in her story and her readers to understand.

Still glad I read it. Gets 5 stars for the beginning, 3 for the middle, and 2 for the end.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly more of a miss than a hit for me as far as Norris works go. The Saturday's Child of the title (the one who supposedly has to work for her living) actually did a little too little work for my taste. I appreciate that Susan is drifting (no one can sympathize with a directionless twenty-something-year-old more than I can!) but the story seemed to drift along with her and there were times—when she was fired by the Saunders for instance—that Susan's lack of work irritated me. I understand being knocked down by life and having a hard time getting back up, but to be lazing your days away (for months on end, no less) in an already poverty-stricken household is not so easy for me to understand.

I liked the novel's theme, that service to others is the only road to happiness, but I would have liked a more admirable heroine to go with it. Norris tells us over and over that everyone she encounters thinks Susan hung the moon, but after a while I started to wonder....and why is that exactly? Not one of Norris' best.

[Gail Kittleson]

Intriguing memoir.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A novel about 12 women working in a repressive law firm. They share their dreams, passions, and ambitions with each other for a better life as they explore the world of men and romance." I liked it for the same reasons as this reviewer, who expressed those reasons so well, I don't need to.

[Babe Rainbow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot until the weirdly disappointing ending part