The Operator: A Novel

Vivian is a switchboard operator who loves to eavesdrop. It’s a guilty pleasure that she believes has few consequences…until the day she overhears some scandalous gossip from Betty Miller, the snobby society woman Vivian loves to hate. The gossip, Vivian is horrified to realize, concerns Vivian’s own husband, Edward. And it’s the kind of story that will spread like wildfire.

Vivian is determined to trace the story to its root and find out not only if it’s true, but also how Betty became privy to it. Of course, the story is quickly known by everyone in the small town of Wooster, Ohio, and Vivian, Edward, and their daughter Charlotte must face the stares and whispers. Meanwhile, there’s another scandalous story gaining traction, one that has the potential to shatter the very pinnacle of Wooster society…and it might just be a switchboard operator who puts the pieces together.

Witty and wry, this novel offers a glimpse of 1950s life and society, when women and men were held to different standards and social mores didn’t leave a lot of room for choice. Open-mindedness took a backseat to trenchant ideas about race and belonging, reminding readers that the era was much edgier and more fraught than the lives of the gossiping operators might initially suggest.