This book tells, eventually, the story of what happened on the night of the explosion at the dance hall in a small, southwest Missouri town. The narrator is the grand-nephew of a woman killed in the blast, and he learns about the incident, and about many of the people in the town, during the summer he spends with his grandmother Alma, who is the maid referenced in the title. The story bounces from era to era, and from character to character, and I wound up reading it twice just to make sure I was following the line of the story correctly. However, it is not a very long book, though well written, so that was not too onerous.
Much of the story takes place just before and just after the 1929 explosion. The before introduces us to many of the people in the small town of West Table, Missouri. The after describes the actions and reactions of the townsfolk. Much of the story is told from Alma’s point of view, but there are other parts that seem to have an unknown, omniscient narrator. You meet several of the people killed in the blast, and others who are deeply affected by it. Alma’s relationship with her sister, her husband, and her employers at the time of the blast are key points in the narrative as well. Although the narrative bounces around in time and sometimes location, it is usually pretty easy to keep everything straight.
As I mentioned before, the story is mainly about a horrible incident in a small town, where everybody knows everyone else, or at least they know their kin. I wonder if the author had to create something like a FAN chart just to keep all of his characters straight! As a genealogist, it was interesting reading about the ups and downs of a family’s economic status from generation to generation. And also the interactions between neighbors and friends, employers and employees. Not to mention how members of the same family have different reactions to the same event.
If this was your family, how would you research them? A tragedy like this would have generated a lot of newsprint, even in cities somewhat removed from the immediate area. It would be interesting to compare local coverage with more remote articles. Land records and census records would show when families moved to the town, and when they left. The census would also be key to understanding the different parts of town, and the economic status of the various neighborhoods. I don’t know if records for the poor farm would be available, or if there would be any way to trace who was working for whom, but those would also be interesting records to find.