In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
Genre: YA Historical/Paranormal
Published by: Amulet Books on April 2, 2013
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Chapter One: A Year the Devil Designed
I stepped inside the railroad car, and three dozen pairs of eyes peered my way. Gauze masks concealed the passengers’ mouths and noses. The train smelled of my own mask’s cotton, boiling onions, and a whiff of something clammy and sour I took to be fear.
Keep moving, I told myself.
Synopsis:
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?
Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.
Friday Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader.
This book made it to my TBR years ago, but got buried. Definitely bumping it back to the top!
It’s an interesting one! Very eerie and melancholic. Lots of interesting history as well. It was such a hard time in history, I can’t even imagine it!
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