Book Review by Bluebird by Genevieve Graham

 Bluebird by Genevieve Graham 

Paperback, 352 pages

Ppublication: April 5th 2022 by Simon & Schuster

Genre:  Historical Fiction, WWI, Canada

 

Taken from Goodreads:  A dazzling novel set during the Great War and postwar Prohibition about a young nurse, a soldier, and a family secret that binds them together for generations to come—from USA TODAY and repeat #1 bestselling author Genevieve Graham.

Present day

Cassie Simmons, a museum curator, is enthusiastic about solving mysteries from the past, and she has a personal interest in the history of the rumrunners who ferried illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. So when a cache of whisky labeled Bailey Brothers’ Best is unearthed during a local home renovation, Cassie hopes to find the answers she’s been searching for about the legendary family of bootleggers...

1918

Corporal Jeremiah Bailey of the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company is tasked with planting mines in the tunnels beneath enemy trenches. After Jerry is badly wounded in an explosion, he finds himself in a Belgium field hospital under the care of Adele Savard, one of Canada’s nursing sisters, nicknamed “Bluebirds” for their blue gowns and white caps. As Jerry recovers, he forms a strong connection with Adele, who is from a place near his hometown of Windsor, along the Detroit River. In the midst of war, she’s a welcome reminder of home, and when Jerry is sent back to the front, he can only hope that he’ll see his bluebird again.

By war’s end, both Jerry and Adele return home to Windsor, scarred by the horrors of what they endured overseas. When they cross paths one day, they have a chance to start over. But the city is in the grip of Prohibition, which brings exciting opportunities as well as new dangerous conflicts that threaten to destroy everything they have fought for.

Pulled from the pages of history, Bluebird is a compelling, luminous novel about the strength of the human spirit and the power of love to call us home. 

 

My Thoughts:  Bluebird is a dual timeline book.   Most of the book takes place during or right after WWI.  The other part takes place in current time.  I enjoyed that most of the story was told in the past.  WWI is a time that I am working to learn more about and Bluebird shared so much that I did not know.  Prohibition is something I think everyone knows something about but I like that I was reading about Prohibition in Canada.  The risks, the money, the gangs, the travelling, there is so much more to Prohibition than just making the alcohol and selling it illegally. 

The current storyline tells of finding a stash of the Bailey Brothers Whiskey bottles and the story they have to tell.  I enjoyed the connection that Cassie, the curator, has to the house that the bottles were found in.   She jumps into the mystery of the bottles and does not let it go until it all is solved. 

I enjoyed seeing the present time come together with the past.  The storylines came together perfectly.

**Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet Genevieve Graham:  Genevieve Graham is the USA TODAY and #1 bestselling author of The Forgotten HomeChild, Letters Across the Sea, Tides of Honour, Promises to Keep, Come from Away, and At the Mountain’s Edge. Her latest novel, Bluebird, will be published April 2022. She is passionate about breathing life back into Canadian history through tales of love and adventure. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Visit her at GenevieveGraham.com or on Twitter and Instagram @GenGrahamAuthor.