A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

Hellllloooooo....

I finally got a chance to get some reading done last night.  Let's face it, no one comes to visit the LMC on PVN, except maybe to ask me to print their child's schedule.  I had ONE visitor last night.  And it was a lost parent.  *sigh*

So, I read this.  I saw this come in a few orders ago and thought it sounded interesting, but not enough "hook" to get me to steal it off the cart before it went on display.  It was recently returned with a good review from the student, so I figured I should read it!

Sometimes it's difficult for students, particularly those who struggle with language, to separate fact from fiction when reading historical fiction.  I can't tell you how many students think they're expects on the Salem Witch Trials because they read The Crucible.  Or how many thought Rose and Jack were really on the Titanic.  We, as teachers of literature, need to make sure our students understand that while the events in the book really happened, and likely affected a lot of people, the characters in this book are either changed to fit the plot or made up entirely.

In this case, the historical events are World War I and the Spanish Influenza outbreak.  Our characters, however, are entirely fictional.

Cleo's parents died in a carriage accident (remember this is the early 1900s) and she has been raised by a much older brother and his wife.  They are relatively wealthy, as they have a live-in housekeeper and Cleo attends a private boarding school for girls.  Her brother and sister-in-law set out on an extended anniversary trip, leaving Cleo at school.  It is during this extended stay at her school that the Spanish flu arrives on the West Coast.

Cleo makes several bold, and perhaps rash, decisions to leave the school, live at home alone, and volunteer as a Red Cross worker/quasi-nurse.  In doing so, she meets new female friends outside her circle and is attracted to the male military medical student assigned to their area.  I do feel some of the interactions were a bit cliched.

I won't spoil what happens to Cleo, but the author throws in a twist at the very end I didn't see coming.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.