Winters, Cat. In The Shadows of Blackbirds.

Winters, Cat.  In The Shadows of Blackbirds.    Amulet see Abrams, Harry      2013  387p  ISBN 978-1-4197-0530-4    jr/sr  VG-BN Historical fiction

In 1918 San Diego, the Spanish flu and World War I have left no one unscathed.  Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to sceances and spirit photographers for comfort.  Despite her scientific leanings, she must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

Viewers of Downton Abbey will be thrilled by this historical piece, which describes the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black.  Author Cat Winters has devoted a great deal of attention to the historical facts of the era, creating a wholly believable set of characters cast against a backdrop of pervasive fear.  This novel deals with fear on many levels, but at its heart it is about the fear of the unknown.  Mary Shelley is afraid of what will happen to her father, who has been imprisoned as a political dissident, necessitating her relocation to her Aunt Eva's house in San Diego. She is afraid of the nightmares she has about her sweetheart, presumed dead in battle overseas.  She is afraid of the growing influence of a spirit photographer over her grief-stricken aunt and the conspiracy she is certain he is involved in.  Throughout the novel, readers are drawn into Mary Shelley's narration as she investigates her suspicions regarding the nefarious activities of her lost love's brother, the spirit photographer who has charmed and bamboozled her aunt and countless others.  The Spanish flu and Mary Shelley's investigations both reach a fever pitch and come to an ending that is as surprising as it is fitting, piecing together the clues that have been provided throughout the book in a resolution that will surely ssatisfy readers.  The characters are sometimes two-dimensional, but given that the narrator is a teenage girl, it is not ridiculous to suppose that the protagonist only sees people as two-dimensional "extras" in her life, and would depict them as such. The climactic scene reads like a fever dream, exactly as it ought to do, but it is Mary Shelley's nightmares that will really stay with readers long after they have put the book down.  One of the few books written about this time period for a primarily female audience that does not deal with the war directly, this is a fantastic book for any library to own, and well worth the cover price.  Just make sure not to call it “steampunk”, because it is not that.

Summary: In 1918 San Diego, the Spanish flu and World War I have left no one unscathed.  Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to sceances and spirit photographers for comfort.  Despite her scientific leanings, she must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

California, 1918-Fiction, Occult-Fiction              --Bethany Geleskie