From the Publisher
"The 1918 flu pandemic (a frightful parallel to the coronavirus pandemic) is the backdrop, but this really is a story about sisterly love. Bring a tissue. " —The Washington Post
"[Dallas is] also a Colorado literary pillar, having appraised nearly every Colorado book worth reading in recent years—and writing more than a few of them herself." —The Denver Post
"This is a tender novel of love, loss, and family support, but it cuts deep with injustices committed against “Little Souls.” —Historical Novel Society
"Exhilarating and hard to resist." —Katherine Powers, The Washington Post on Westering Women
“Putting down a Sandra Dallas novel is nearly impossible.” —Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado) on Prayers for Sale
“As heartwarming as a homemade quilt.” —USA Today on A Quilt for Christmas
“Both heartwarming and emotional...[reminding us] of the importance of love, family, and the memories that we hold dear as we age.” —Historical Novels Review on The Patchwork Bride
“A born storyteller, Dallas excels not only at plot but also at peopling her novels with memorable individuals.” —Richmond Times Dispatch on True Sisters
Kirkus Reviews
2022-02-25
Against the backdrop of the 1918 influenza epidemic, two sisters offer refuge to an abused child.
Dallas’ first-person narrator is 24-year-old Lutie, short for Lucretia, a fashion illustrator for a downtown department store that caters to Denver’s upper class. Lutie lives with her older sister, Helen, who, as a nurse, is dealing firsthand with the misery attending the epidemic. As the novel begins, Lutie, among a small, fearful throng, witnesses the death throes of a soldier on a public street. This is only one instance of Dallas’ graphic depictions of the course of the influenza pandemic in one city, many of which resonate today—although not necessarily the “death wagons” patrolling the streets or the widespread acceptance of public health measures. Lutie arrives home to find Ronald Streeter, the sisters’ downstairs tenant, stabbed to death in the kitchen, Helen standing over him with an ice pick in hand as his 10-year-old daughter, Dorothy, cowers nearby. We soon learn that drunken, depraved Streeter abused his wife, Maud, and had raped Dorothy, also offering her to his crony, Maud’s equally depraved brother. Helen’s fiance, Gil, a medical student also overworked during the pestilence, helps remove the body to a vacant lot, hoping one of the “wagons” will dispose of it along with the anonymous remains of flu victims. As the sisters make a home for the traumatized Dorothy after Maud dies of flu, complications pile up. Long-suppressed secrets emerge as the uncle tries to interfere with the sisters’ adoption case. The parents of Peter, Lutie’s fiance, who is killed in the war, offer staunch help. Dallas makes a worthy effort to use the parlance of the day, erring on the side of formal, somewhat stilted speech on the parts of all but the guttersnipe characters. Aside from these obvious villains, the characters are well intentioned and unfailingly kind, including two hard-boiled detectives. The novel is seeded throughout with tragedy, but the overriding message is hope, and the overarching adversary is not human but a virus.
Vivid scenes from America’s forgotten pandemic.
