This is one of my fave local (well, she lives about 2.5 hours northwest of us) author. Love her historical fiction books. I have now read every novel this author has written except for the first one because our library is having trouble finding it for me. They did tell me before Covid to put in another request so I'll have to do that. I have rated all of the historical fiction books I've read by her, a perfect 10 except for one (the one before this one) due to editing errors. Again, this book is wonderful but several editing errors. Do authors not demand that their editors be careful??
STORY SUMMARY
The Lange Family (Vater (Father), Mutti (Mother), Pia age 13 and the twins Ollie and Max age 3 months) are German immigrants who have settled in one of the poorest sections of Philadelphia. The dad has joined the army fighting in WWI. Mutti is sick with the Spanish Flu which has become a horrible epidemic on the East Coast.
Dead and dying people are everywhere.....some bodies are just lying in the streets of Philadelphia because the hospitals are overcrowded and there is a medical personnel shortage.
One day, Mutti dies and Pia is forced to leave the twins in a small cubby in their tiny, dark apartment while she goes out to look or beg for food. She is trying to help her baby brothers survive. But.....she wakes up in a hospital, herself sick with the Flu.
Meanwhile, Bernice Groves, a grieving widow, loses her baby boy Wallis to the flu. She is a neighbor of the Lange family and is very racist against any immigrant but particularly the Germans whom she blames for killing her father. Bernice has a lot of bitterness in her heart. If the doctors and nurses hadn't been so busy dealing with all the immigrant children and babies, she reasons that maybe they could have saved her own son. A true white American.
Bernice sees Pia leaving her apartment and is then buoyed by a radical, shocking, life-altering decision that leads her on a sinister mission: she will transform the city's orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are "true Americans". What she ends up doing is pure evil.
As Pia makes her way through the city's neighborhoods, before succumbing to the flu and being brought to a hospital, she has no idea that when she returns to her tenement building, that the twins will be gone. It will be a long, 5 year journey to figure out what happened. Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden and will do so at any cost.
It is with deep persistence and hope plus the courage to face her own shame and fears, that will help Pia put the pieces together and find the strength to risk everything to see justice at last.
MY THOUGHTS
This is another winner of Ellen Marie Wiseman's. I love her writing and character development. She also has strong setting descriptions which I've always enjoyed.
This book dwells on the themes of 2 very different women. One is kind, courageous and compassionate. The other is evil, bitter and full of racism plus totally dishonest. The description of the Spanish Influenza and the culture surrounding it are eerily similar to the pandemic we all just lived through (Covid-19).
The author looks at the family and social systems of the early 20th century and it is very eye opening.
Some other themes in this book are: mother-daughter relationships/family relationships; shame, trust, betrayal; racism against Germans and other cultural/religious groups during WWI; orphanages and the nuns/emotional/physical neglect/abuse; kidnapping/human trafficking; loss, grief, tragedy.
The book also touches on the dangers of patriotism...or how it can become dangerous in regards to people groups/class.
This book is historical fiction but also a real page turner. I read this in a short time because I just couldn't put it down. I found myself bringing it to work so I could read during my lunch break!
The characters are so believable and when you meet the Hudson family you will breathe a sigh of relief. You will find yourself cheering on Pia, Finn, and Rebecca. You will find yourself examining your own heart as to any cultural prejudices you may still have lingering either due to your own upbringing/background or because of social culture.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. (keep in mind there are some triggering scenes: stillbirth, loss of infants, kidnapping, abuse, poverty, betrayals).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9. It would get a 10 but there were so many editing errors!!
2 comments:
I now have several of this author's books on my library to read shelf. I'll have to make a goal of getting to some of them this year. This sounds good.
I'm putting this on my library list for sure!
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