How do I begin to describe this book? Ellen Marie Wiseman has a way of ripping your heart out and then stitching it back together. This book was one of my anticipated reads of the year. I'm a simple soul; I see Wiseman's name and I get the book. I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book through BookishFirst and read before the publication date. While I have only read two other Wiseman books ("Coal River" and "The Life She Was Given") I think this is my favorite of her books so far.
Let's breakdown this book together starting with the setting. It's so strange that Wiseman managed to write a book about a pandemic while we are currently in the middle of one. The Influenza happened 102 years ago, but now in 2020 we are seeing similar patterns. We see in this book desperate people trying to do what is best for their families. You see desperate people, but we also see some truly evil people as well, *Cough Cough* Bernice. Wisman chose Philadelphia to be the backdrop of this novel, due to how many people died from the epidemic there.
Characters: There were so many amazing characters in this book. We have two main characters in this book- our protagonist the young German immigrant Pia Lange, and the antagonist Bernice Groves aka Nurse Wallis. I absolutely loved the character of Pia. She is left alone with her twin brothers Max and Ollie after their mother dies in their apartment. She is left to make hard choices trying to ensure their survival. Those choices should not be put on the shoulders of a poor thirteen year old. Pia ventures out one day, trying to find food so her brothers and her don't starve. Not wanting to expose them or have them come to any harm, Pia leaves her brothers behind. This is something that haunts her for the rest of the novel, because her brothers are taken from their home. Bernice Wallis has just lost her infant son and her husband died in the war. You want to feel bad for her but she is such a horrible person. She ends up stealing Pia's brothers and decides that a German immigrant couldn't possibly take care of a child. She ends up stealing children from their home and selling them to parents who have recently have children die. Don't get me wrong, I hated Bernice, but I think that means that Wiseman did such a fantastic job writing her. There are other great characters in this book, including Finn (God I loved Finn) and the Hudson family.
Plot: We start with Pia when she is thirteen years old right before the outbreak of the flu. We follow her through her trials trying to find her brothers and find out what happened to them. The novel ends around the time Pia is nineteen years old. I personally found the end of the novel to be satisfying and wrapped up nicely.
Let's breakdown this book together starting with the setting. It's so strange that Wiseman managed to write a book about a pandemic while we are currently in the middle of one. The Influenza happened 102 years ago, but now in 2020 we are seeing similar patterns. We see in this book desperate people trying to do what is best for their families. You see desperate people, but we also see some truly evil people as well, *Cough Cough* Bernice. Wisman chose Philadelphia to be the backdrop of this novel, due to how many people died from the epidemic there.
Characters: There were so many amazing characters in this book. We have two main characters in this book- our protagonist the young German immigrant Pia Lange, and the antagonist Bernice Groves aka Nurse Wallis. I absolutely loved the character of Pia. She is left alone with her twin brothers Max and Ollie after their mother dies in their apartment. She is left to make hard choices trying to ensure their survival. Those choices should not be put on the shoulders of a poor thirteen year old. Pia ventures out one day, trying to find food so her brothers and her don't starve. Not wanting to expose them or have them come to any harm, Pia leaves her brothers behind. This is something that haunts her for the rest of the novel, because her brothers are taken from their home. Bernice Wallis has just lost her infant son and her husband died in the war. You want to feel bad for her but she is such a horrible person. She ends up stealing Pia's brothers and decides that a German immigrant couldn't possibly take care of a child. She ends up stealing children from their home and selling them to parents who have recently have children die. Don't get me wrong, I hated Bernice, but I think that means that Wiseman did such a fantastic job writing her. There are other great characters in this book, including Finn (God I loved Finn) and the Hudson family.
Plot: We start with Pia when she is thirteen years old right before the outbreak of the flu. We follow her through her trials trying to find her brothers and find out what happened to them. The novel ends around the time Pia is nineteen years old. I personally found the end of the novel to be satisfying and wrapped up nicely.