I love books that are an unexpected pleasure and Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (known for her non-fiction work the Drunken Botantist) was that and more. The book is a fictionalized account of Constance Kopp (our Girl waiting with a Gun) and her two sisters Norma and Fleurette. In 1914 in Paterson NJ the three sisters are riding in their buggy and are run over by an automobile driven by Henry Kaufman. Kaufman the owner of a local silk mill refuses to take responsibility for the damages.

The sisters are not your average femme fatales-Constance is large and imposing, Norma is obsessed with her pigeons and reading lurid crime pieces in the newspapers and Fleurette is on the cusp of being an adult, a talented seamstress and budding performer. Constance confronts Kaufman after two requests for payment go unanswered-embarrassed in front of his ne’er do well friends Kaufman starts his campaign of harassment and intimidation sending threatening letters several through “brick mail”, driving by the girls’ farmhouse, shooting at the house and stating that Fleurette will be abducted and sold.

Instead of fleeing the girls contact the local sheriff, learn to shoot and actively work with the honest constabulary (not a simple task) to bring Kaufman to justice which took almost a year. This in and of itself is an interesting narrative but Stewart also includes storylines such as a young mill worker who had a child with Kaufman, the transportation of children out of Paterson into the city during the silk strike,the movement to change living conditions in prisons and the limited options for women in the early part of the 20th century.

If I had not read that this was a fictionalized account of a true story I would not have believed it and yet I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was cheering the Kopp sisters at every turn-appreciating their individuality and benefiting from their courage.