CALL ME ATHENA by Colby Cedar Smith

 

CALL ME ATHENA by Colby Cedar Smith is one of the Michigan Notable Books for 2022. It highlights the early 1930s in Detroit, Michigan, as well as the WW I era in Europe as detailed by the main character's grandparents. Smith combines facts from the lives of her parents and grandparents with some embellishments to create a fascinating tale.

Mary, born in Detroit to a Greek father and French mother, doesn't feel like she is fulfilling her family's expectations. Her father owns and operates a small store, but the depression hits hard forcing him to sell. Most of the city works for Henry Ford in some way or other, but many of those jobs are lost when car sales fall. Mary's mother works hard at home to raise six children. All of this is a life Mary doesn't want for herself.

Mary dreams of being a business owner. It becomes an even bigger goal after she works with her father in the store. She has suggestions for how to keep the business running, but her ideas fall on deaf ears because it isn't a girl's place to work outside the home. When an arranged marriage to a man twice her age is suggested, Mary at first agrees, but then she meets Billy. Why can't she marry someone she loves, and someone who supports her dreams? She believes this even more when she finds a box filled with love letters from long ago.

Alternating with Mary's narration are the voices of her mother and father in their home countries of Greece and France. It is WW I and both are struggling with their own family issues and how to survive the war. Just as the young Greek manages to make it to America, he finds himself sent back to Europe to fight the war on behalf of the United States. Fate brings the Greek soldier and the French girl together just when need each other.

CALL ME ATHENA hits just shy of the 550 page mark, but since it is written in verse, readers will not notice the length as the pages fly by. Advertised for a young adult audience, adult readers will enjoy it as well, especially the rich Detroit history scattered throughout.