Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Queen of Hearts: Coming of Age in a Hospital Bed by Martha Brooks

genre: young adult

Marie-Claire, living on the prarie in Canada at the beginning of World War II, doesn't expect live to be easy.  She works hard at her chores around the farm, she knows boys are going off to war.  Even at 15, she is aware that life will exact a price from you.  She never could've imagined, though, how high that price would be.  When she contracts tuberculosis, Marie-Claire has move into a sanatorium for TB patients.  Her life shudders to a crawl as she painfully works through the disease as well as her own anger and frustration at this card that life has dealt to her. 

I REALLY liked this book.  I liked Marie-Claire - she felt painfully real and I shared her misery and her glimpses of happiness.  The setting itself was so unique, I'm embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that such sanatoriums existed - where before antibiotics were available to treat TB, people would spend YEARS of their life in seclusion, trying to overcome this horrible disease.  I actually even cried tears at one point in this story, it's that carefully and beautifully written.  The love story felt believable and realistic.  I'm giving it five stars mostly because it took me by the hand into a place I've never been and gave me a realistic and interesting journey.


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1 comment:

bermudaonion said...

I think books that make you cry (or laugh) are masterfully written. I'm making note of this one - it sounds good.

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