This Property Is Condemned

During the midst of the Great Depression, teenager Willie Starr tells a recent story of her family in Dodson, Mississippi, and the now-condemned building that was the family boarding house where she still lives by herself. Her father had just abandoned the family, leaving her mother, Hazel Starr, to open the boarding house to survive. Hazel used her attractive older daughter Alva Starr as bait to lure men to the house as boarders. Alva, whom Willie idolized, in turn fostered this role in the hopes of finding a wealthy man who would take her away from Dodson, preferably to New Orleans which she dreamed of seeing one day--hopefully a man she would love in return, not just for his money. Hazel tried to push Alva on to their wealthiest boarder, married Gerard Johnson, who was old enough to be Alva's father. Hazel's boyfriend, J.J. Nichols, also one of the boarders, came because of Alva and stayed because of Alva. A mysterious young stranger, Owen Legate, came to stay at the house for a week. It wasn't until near the end of Owen's stay that the Starrs and the rest of the town learned that he was a New Orleans-based railroad executive in town to review the personnel records to see which men would be laid off, largely because of the downturn in the economy, which would probably negatively affect the Starrs' livelihood. Regardless, Alva fell for Owen, also despite or perhaps because he saw through her whorish facade to the scared young woman she really was, she who used fantasy to endure her reality. Willie concludes the story with whether Alva and Own had their happily-ever-after, which would have happened despite Hazel fighting all the way to keep her meal ticket.