A Death-Struck Year

A Death-Struck Year

YA fiction
Harsh epidemics that sicken indiscriminately and kill a large
portion of the stricken tend to happen overseas in third world
countries. Not always, though. Most young people and too many in my
generation don't know that at the tail end of World War I our country
was in the grip of a terrifying epidemic that had people fearing
neighbors and even family members. Makiia Lucier's A Death-Struck
Year provides mature YA readers with a look at this tumultous chapter
in our nation's history.
Orphan Cleo, 17, is is boarding at her school while her brother
and his pregnant wife celebrate their 13th anniversary in San
Francisco. At first the dreaded Spanish influenza seems to far away
to be a threat. However, strict precautionary measured are being
taken at the school. It's only a matter of time before government
officials shut it down, quarantining all boarding students.
Cleo is not too good about following orders. She manages to
slip away to her empty home, sure that the housekeeper will be
returning soon. The next day she responds to an ad she sees in the
newspaper. The Red Cross is in desperate need of people to canvass
the city, handing out influenza prevention literature and locating
sufferers who need to be hospitalized.
This mission is a far cry from Cleo's usual cushy life. Her
first morning she rushes two desparately children to a temporary
hospital set up in an auditorium, her clothes soiled with blood and
diaper contents. She is shocked to see how many people are there,
struggling to survive. It's not long before she sees dead bodies.
People would understand if she quit. Not only is she involved in a
truly grim mission, but she risks her own life every time she ventures
out of her house.
Cleo knows that the people she rescues might die abandoned if
she stopped searching. She knows only too well what it's like to wait
for help that might not arrive.
On a personal note, this book gave me, a mature reviewer, nightmares.
I dreamed about being one of the poor, doomed people in it. I woke up
with my heart pounding a mile a minute and could not fall asleep
without a beer, a remedy unavailable to the target audience.
A great big shout out goes out to all who risk their lives these days
to rescue people from and stop the spread of Ebola.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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