Nancy A. (Chocoholic) reviewed on 2/4/2009 + 291 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 9

If you're a fan of historical fiction, you'll probably like this book. Roughly, it is about a very small town in Washington state that decides to quarantine itself from the outside world to protect its citizens from the great Flu epidemic of 1918, and also during the same timeframe as WWI. Shortly after the town decides to quarantine itself, a soldier shows up needing food and shelter and the effects of what happens next really drives the whole novel. At first, I found this book to be very tedious and monotonous, and I almost put the book down and quit it altogether. There is a LOT of background plot details to establish, and a lot of characters to develop, which is especially concentrated at the first half of the novel. Once I got through that, though, I found the book nearly impossible to put down...it really became quite the thriller. My copy of the book contained an interview with the author about how he developed the novel and some little known, or overlooked facts about the great war and the great flu. I loved this book and, if you have the patience for it, highly recommend it!

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