Winnie's War

Moss, Jenny. 2009. Winnie's War. Walker Books.

"Winnie, stop playing with those forks," said my grandmother.

The novel, Winnie's War, is set in 1918 during the epidemic or outbreak of the Spanish influenza. Winnie lives with her family--mother, father, grandmother, and her younger sisters--in a small-town in Texas. Her mother is emotionally scarred and a bit unresponsive--having survived the great Galveston hurricane of 1900. The novel is about many things--life, death, survival, risk, fear, love, loss, hope, friends, and family--but above all else it is a novel about growing up and trying to hold onto hope. But is that possible? To have hope when you fear for the well being of your family, of your friends, of life as you've always known it? Does having hope make a difference? Can it protect you? save you? What does having hope teach you about yourself and about the world around you? If Winnie could, she'd stop the influenza from coming into her town, her neighborhood. If she could, she'd stop death from claiming the lives of those she loves--even if that love is without understanding at times. But Winnie's just a girl, a girl with heart and soul that you may come to love as you turn the pages of the book.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews