Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby

This is the story of Francesca "Frankie" Mazza, narrated by Pearl, a teenage ghost who feels just a little bit closer to life when she is around Frankie. Frankie is a 14-year-old Italian American living in an Catholic orphanage run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow in Chicago with her younger sister Toni and her older brother Vito. The Mazza children aren't orphans, but were placed in the Guardian Angels Orphanage by their father, a shoemaker, after the death of their mother. And every visiting Sunday, he showa up bearing meatball sandwiches, spaghetti with butter, a apple for each and sometimes a new pair of shoes. Then one Sunday, he visits with news that he and his new wife would be moving to Colorado, and he would be taking Vito with him, but leaving the girls at the orphanage.

Left behind, and missing Vito, Frankie withdraws into herself for a while, at which point Pearl's story begins to unfold. Pearl is convinced she died as a result of the 1918 influenza pandemic that swept the world. And she has acquired a ghostly fox for company as she roams around the orphanage, the shores of Lake Michigan, reads The Hobbit over the shoulder of a library patron, where Pearl meets Marguerite, an African American ghost who can actually knock books off shelves. Like Frankie and Pearl, Marguerite also has a tragic story and also like them, her story slowly unfolds.

Once Frankie begins to join her friends again, she finds herself working in the kitchen, preparing meals for the nuns. And that's where she meets and falls in love with Sam. And the feeling is mutual. But Sam is almost 18-years-old and once war is declared in Europe, it is just a matter of time until, like Vito, he is drafted and sent to fight Hitler.

When the nuns discover what went on between Frankie and Sam, she is harshly punished, and then she and Toni are kicked out of the orphanage. Living with their father, their stepmother, and three of her children just may be a deal breaker for Frankie.

Thirteen Doorways doesn't just take the reader on a journey through the problematic and tragic lives of Frankie, Pearl, and Marguerite, to their individual ends, it also challenges the reader to think about the doorways we are confronted with in life and what might lie behind them. As events in their lives are recalled, as doorways are opened, wolves are revealed. Do we open the door and go through, not knowing what can happen, but taking control of our lives and our experiences or do we deny ourselves agency, staying ensconced in a life not really lived, however abusive and unhappy it may be?

Ruby has written a novel that is populated by a whole host of characters besides Frankie, Pearl, and Marguerite, who all play a part in their stories to greater or lesser but always relevant degrees. In doing so, to my mind, at least, Ruby just may have redefined the old Henry James' notion of the "loose baggy monster' and given it dignity and literary value.

Though not a book about WWII, it does, nevertheless, frame the world that Frankie lives in and the world that Pearl haunts. And in doing so, Ruby gives the reader some real insight about what life was like during those years, especially for poor Americans.

I began reading Thirteen Doorways slowly, much more slowly than I usually read books, savoring every word. But I found Ruby's writing so beautiful, so lyrical, so mesmerizing that it didn't take long before I realized I couldn't put it down. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who like this kind of tale, I can't recommend it highly enough for so many reasons.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was purchased for my personal library

The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery by Allison Rushby

It's December 1940 and London is being bombed night after night by the German Luftwaffe. In Highgate Cemetery, however, the souls who are buried there are, for the most part, at peace, thanks to Flossie Birdwhistle, 12. Flossie had died of rheumatic fever, and now served as the turnkey or keeper of the key, of Highgate. It is her job to make sure everyone stays peacefully at rest there. As turnkey, Flossie must stay awake and can even leave the cemetery, sometimes visiting the Golden Galley atop St. Paul's Cathedral, a tranquil place overlooking London until the war began. But one December night, she runs into someone else up there - a man who was clearly dead and part of the spirit world, though not a turnkey, and dressed in the uniform of a Nazi officer and carrying a strange looking round glass object. When he sees Flossie, he quickly flees.

Confused, Flossie decides to visit her friend Ada, the Turnkey of Tower Hamlets cemetery. No sooner does she tell Ada what she saw, than the Turnkey of Brompton Cemetery shows up with at least 100 souls dressed in the uniform of the *Chelsea Pensioners. The men are there because of the Blitz, but are soon drawn into the mystery of the Nazi officer in the SS uniform carrying the mysterious round object.

On a quick trip to the Invalids' Cemetery in Berlin, Flossie learns from the Turnkey there that the officer is part of the Ahnenerbe. But what is that? Is the officer a German spy? How can that be if he's already dead? And why does he know who Flossie is?

The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery is indeed a mystery...and historical fiction...and a ghost story.  And yet it just didn't grab me until Flossie sees the SS officer on the dome of St. Paul's. A ghostly Nazi looking out at the bombing of London by the Luftwaffe reminded me that the the Nazi's, particularly Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, had been interested in finding the "spiritual" roots of Germanic or Aryan heritage. That made this a definite game changer.

Flossie may only be a 12 year old protagonist, but she's smart and unrelenting in her pursuit of solving the mystery of the Nazi, especially after it becomes personal. But she's also compassionate and cares very much about the souls at rest in Highgate, as evidenced in the sub-storyline about Grace, a young girl injured in the Blitz who straddles life and death while trying to find her family. I could have lived without Grace's story, but I think it would have made a great sequel to this novel.

Highgate Cemetery is such a perfect setting for this story. It's creepy enough to make me never want to be there at night, but the spirits from all the London cemeteries are not the least bit scary:

Highgate Cemetery, London

The story does take a few unexpected turns that I didn't see coming and I liked that a lot. In fact, a lot of people have compared this novel to Neil Gaiman's Coraline and The Graveyard Book, and I suppose they are similar in a way, but I think The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery does a good job of holding its own.

I also thought that Rushby did a spot on job of presenting the Blitz in all its horror, and I liked Flossie's visits to the war rooms of the British and the Nazis, but I think one of my favorite things was the presence of the helpful Chelsea Pensioners in their tricorn hats and bright red coats. Which reminds me: The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery was originally published in Britain, and there may be some bits that young American readers don't not know about. Some of them are covered in the Author's Note, but not the Pensioners (see note below).

All in all, however, The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery is a great novel for anyone interested in WWII fiction, fans of ghost stories, and those who like a really good mystery.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press

*Chelsea Pensioners - according to Wikipedia, they are soldiers who are residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home for former members of the British Army.

At the Firefly Gate by Linda Newbery

At the Firefly Gate is a simple romantic ghost story that seamlessly connects past and present, and age and youth together.

Henry, 11, is not happy when his parents move from London to the village of Crickford St. Thomas. His first night there, he sees a man standing at the garden gate, smoking a cigarette and with a cloud of fireflies flying around him, appearing to look straight at Henry.

The next day Henry and his parents are invited to tea by their neighbor Pat, whose daughter Grace is a little older than Henry. Also living there is Dottie, Pat’s elderly aunt. Henry and Dottie immediately feel the strangest connection to each other, despite their age difference.

That night, Henry dreams that he is at a mobile café, buying doughnuts and coffee, helped by a pretty girl who was flirting with him. And he knew the guy with him was his best friend, Rusty Dobbs. Yet, nothing about the dream made sense to him and, despite its vividness it slips away from him when he wakes up.

Henry begins to settle into his new surroundings. He is often invited to Pat’s home for tea and becomes friendlier with Dottie, bonding with her over games of Scrabble. All that spoils this is Grace telling him that Dottie is dying.

Meanwhile, Henry meets and becomes friends with Simon, who he will be going to school with. One hot Sunday, Henry and Simon go over the stream to cool off. They get lost along the way and discover an old, long abandoned airfield, which Simon recognizes as the one where his great-granddad was a pilot during World War II. He tells Henry the story about how his great granddad was in sick bay the night his entire crew went on a mission over Germany and never came back. Henry is stunned to learn that Simon’s great granddad’s name is Rusty Dobbs.

The past and present continue to overlap in Henry’s life, even as carves out a spot for himself in Crickford, making new friends and adjusting to life there. Dottie finally clarifies the identity of the man, explaining that he was also named Henry, a navigator in the RAF and best friends with Rusty Dobbs. He was also the love of her life and, after he didn’t return from the mission that saved Rusty’s life, she never was interested in marrying anyone else.

Newbery’s well developed Henry is a sweet, sensitive character, a rather ordinary boy who suddenly has this extraordinary experience. As pieces to the puzzle of the past present themselves, Henry increasingly becomes more determined to figure it all out. Dottie’s mind is still that of a feisty girl, even as she is physically limited simply by her age. She seems to bring out a confidence in Henry that wasn’t apparent before, acting as a catalyst for Henry’s ‘coming of age.’ Even sullen, angry Grace is well-drawn in her desire to become an RAF pilot against all the odds.

Though I thought the story started out rather slowly and with just a touch of confusion, in the end I enjoyed it very much. I think Linda Newbery has written a very nice refreshing book about friendship between generations that is unusual in books for young readers, where so often these age groups are at odds with each other instead.

The Book Cover: The cover of a book matters and can often influence a reader's decision about reading it.  In this case I think the cover is quite lovely.  The trouble is that on the book I read the details are so dark are hard to make out.  I made the picture of the cover a little brighter with some finagling so that the details are somewhat clearer.  Illustrators work hard on covers and they should be appreciated.  The artwork for At the Firefly Gate was done by Jess Meserve. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9-12.
This book was borrowed from the Children’s Center at 42nd Street of the NYPL

At the Firefly Gate
Linda Newbery
2004
David Pickling imprint of Random House Children’s Books
152 Pages

Beales Corner by Andy Frazier

Beales Corner is a real place in the town of Bewdley, Worcestershire, England and Andy Frazier, author of Beales Corner, grew up in this area and is quite familiar with it. So did his father and many of the stories in the book come from the stories Andy heard growing up about his dad’s adventures in the Home Guard during the war.

So it is not surprising that Beales Corner is told through the eyes of two characters in alternating chapters. The present is seen through fourteen year old Tom Mason; the past is seen through the wartime stories of Tom’s grandfather, James Randall, when he was an adolescent. Alternating chapters can often be problematic, but in this book where there is a clear delineation: the past is told in the first person, the present in the third person. And it works very well.

Tom likes visiting his granddad on his summer vacation because it gets him away from all the pressures of home and school and, at least for a little while, his annoyingly enthusiastic 9 year old sister Lizzie. On the other hand, it means listening to his granddad’s old war stores – again and again and again. And yet when his granddad confesses that his is beginning to have memory problems, Tom agrees to help him write down his war stories. And pretty soon it becomes clear that for these two, the past is not past yet – and Tom has the visions to prove it.

During the mornings, while Tom typed frantically away on his new laptop, his granddad relays stories about how he got his first dog named Boots, and how he and Boots were both in the Home Guard, Jim at the young age of 13, taking on the responsibilities of a much older person. And about meeting his best friend, Jean-Francois, a French Cadet, after the French convoy he was in ran over Boots, and then, later presenting young Jim with a new puppy, the second Boots. Jim and Jean-Francois did all kinds the things together, including getting caught in a snow storm on the way to a dance and having to take refuge in a top secret military depot. The two boys even take up rowing, a favorite sport of the people in Bewdley, which sits along the banks of the Severn River, making for great rowing. Eventually Jim gets to the story of the German pilots who crash landed on his grandfather’s farm and the trouble that ensues.

Meanwhile, Tom also meets a mate, Robert Watson, a member of the Bewdley rowing club. Robert teaches Tom about rowing and the two spend a lot of time on the river. Robert also becomes a favorite of Lizzie, after she arrives at Beales Corner with her mother. Tom is really enjoying his summer this year, helping his grandfather and hanging out with a good mate, except for the visions. Who is that foreign looking boy on a bicycle he keeps seeing? And were those World War II soldiers he sees on the Severn Valley Railroad really just actors? They were all there and then gone, just that quickly.

Without getting too spoilery, I can say that the past and present, the visions and the living coalesce in a very satisfying ending.

Frazier has written a very entertaining YA book, moderate ghost story with Beales Corner. Following the writer’s creed “write what you know” he gives a very realistic sense of place – I felt that I knew Bewdley and Beales Corner as more than just a tourist when I finished. His characters are multi-dimensional, effective and realistic. Tom is an introspective young teen, Lizzie is a really annoying kid, but not without redeeming qualities. But Jim steals the show. He is a a compelling figure, a man who seems to be trying to come to terms with something in his past even as he has loyally and nobly carried a secret and a promise for way too long to protect a friend.

In fact, the only complaint I have about Beales Corner is that sometimes there is a little too much exposition and I would have like more action. But other than that, I definitely recommend this book.

Beales Corner was not printed by a large publishing house though it is available online at most book websites, such as Amazon, B&N and Lulu.   I think it is a great example of why we should also look beyond the conventional to find other top notch authors and their books.

This book is recommended for readers age 11 and up
This book was provided to me by the author



Present day Bewdley, Worcestershire, England
No 3 is the lovely timbered white house on the left.



Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed)

The tea: I drank while writing about Beales Corner Stash's Licorice Spice, a very nice herbal tea that is combined with cinnamon, orange and anise, all favorite flavors. 

Did they go together:  Absolutely. Licorice always makes me think of that totally English delectable Licorice Allsorts, a small bag of which I also devoured while writing. 



Beales Corner
Andy Frazier
Chauffour Books
2011
143 Pages