After ten years on the road as the Midwestern sales representative for T.A. Buck’s Featherloom skirts and petticoats the savvy, stylish, tell-it-like-it-is Emma McChesney now shares a New York City apartment with her plucky 21-year-old son Jock. She shares this story with him too--Emma’s busy being T. A. Buck, Jr.’s business partner and Jock’s trying to break into 1914’s version of Mad Men by getting a job in the up and coming business of advertising.

Jock is as high-spirited as his mother and feels ready to take on the world, but he’s still got a lot to learn. Emma’s having some trouble adjusting to Jock’s growing independence, but T. A. Buck, Jr. would love to distract Emma from her looming empty nest by having more than a business relationship.

Personality Plus is Edna Ferber’s second of three books about the jaunty, irresistible, early career woman Emma McChesney. Ferber wrote all three long enough ago that they’re in the public domain so ebook versions can be downloaded from sites like Project Gutenberg. I listened to a wonderfully narrated audio version available on the Libravox website that made me not mind being stuck in traffic--I had witty Emma to keep me company.