In the Shadow of Blackbirds

This book was very delightful. I think the main character is wonderfully written. Intelligent and daring for a girl in the 1918. I've read about Spanish Influenza and the horrors that were WWI, but there were lovely touches that made you feel like the author just took a picture of the time for a 16 year old girl dealing with so much.

The touches about everyone being so paranoid about being thought of as anti-American, the fact that spiritualist and spirit photography was so popular even the fact that people had lots of homemade remedies (which included lots of onions) to fight against catching the flu just seemed to make the story more relatable. Mary Shelley is trying to fond her place in a new town, where her childhood sweetheart lives, because her father is jailed as a possible traitor for helping some men avoid going to war. The story is filled with mystery,love, sadness, and bravery. Along with a touch of the supernatural Spoiler since she speaks with her childhood sweetheart's ghost.

Like any good book it did leave me wanting more to the story. While the ending was satisfying I did want to know how things turn out for Mary Shelley and her familySpoiler Stephen's ghost ask her while she is unconscious/having an out of body experience/dead? to tell him what she has done with her life when she is an old woman. I definitely appreciate the author's research into the time period and the life she gave all these characters. I'd love to read more books from Ms. Winters.