Bluebird by Sharon Cameron

 

BLUEBIRD was a book that I grabbed purely on impulse. I'm just such a sucker for revenge stories and even though I'm totally fatigued on WWII books, I couldn't resist. This had everything I love-- dangerous boys, dual timelines, family secrets, revenge, and real stakes. From the first chapter, I was sucked in, and I was really impressed at how darkly and deftly the subject matter was handled considering that this is a young adult book and usually the authors tend to write with kid gloves (to the detriment of the plot, sadly).

There are two alternating narratives in this book. One is about Eva, a German girl coming to America with her friend, Annemarie. She has a dark secret and revenge on her mind. The other story is about Inge, another German girl who comes from the ideal German family. Only... her life isn't as perfect as she thinks. And the reason her life isn't perfect is the same reason her mother hates her and her father treats her like a beloved but strictly disciplined dog. The narratives end up intersecting in an unusual and gradual way and while I predicted some of it, there were still plenty of twists that surprised me.

The less you know about BLUEBIRD, the better. I personally thought it was an excellent work of historical fiction. Some of my friends hadn't liked her previous books so I had avoided her other work but after reading this, I'm thinking I seriously need to check out her backlist. The only critiques I really have is that the last half of the book felt a little disorganized compared to the excellent beginning and I don't think the book really needed to be 400+ pages. There were a lot of pieces that felt redundant.

Since this is a book of wartime fiction, the usual trigger warnings apply. Nothing is graphic, but there is a lot of implied abuse and violence, and some references to human experimentation.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 out of 5 stars