Review of ‘Bluebird’ by Genevieve Graham
Review of Bluebird by Genevieve Graham
📚. 📚. 📚. 📚. 📚
What a magnificent, heart-racing story! This is my first Genevieve Graham novel and I can see why everyone is raving about her writing. The hours vanished while reading Bluebird. I became utterly lost in the enthralling characters, plot and setting to the point I could not put this story down. The scenes are so vivid and memorable you forget you are reading a novel! In fact, I did something I have never done before. When I had to get up to tend to some food in the oven, I grabbed my TV remote to pause the button (as if I was watching a show). I forgot for a minute I was reading a book and not watching something! This proves this novel is very visual and would be pure delight on the screen.
I am passionate about historical fiction and once I was introduced to Genevieve’s Bluebird by Canadian author Natalie Jenner (who wrote The Jane Austen Society, and upcoming Bloomsbury Girls), I knew I would be captivated by this story set in my birth home of Canada. And I was. This dual timeline novel is brimming with mystery, romance, action and family drama.
Even though the modern timeline has a smaller space in this novel, the three chapters (plus Prologue and Epilogue that serve as vital book ends) are well placed like dramatic flicks of an artist’s brush adding the right amount of highlights and depth to the mystery as they help shine light on the big picture where past and present meet.
I love the characters. They are intriguing and well created— starting with present day Cassie, a museum curator, who enjoys solving historical mysteries and is drawn into one from her old family home. The new owner, Matthew, has been doing renovations and discovers a cache of whiskey labelled Bailey’s Brothers’ Best concealed in the walls. He drops in to where Cassie works with a sample bottle and a host of questions. It sets her on a quest to unearth the history of these particular rumrunners who transported illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition after the first world war. Her curiosity is spurred on by what she finds, bringing many surprises and even healing to her own life.
From the past timeline, we meet Adele, a wonderful, warm, kind nurse from Canada. She is instantly likeable and we can easily see how she is well received on the war front saving lives. She meets Jerry, a tunneller, a man from back home who is injured in battle. While she attends to his wounds and he is convalescing, a special bond develops between them. When he is healed enough to return to the battlefront, she wonders if she will see him again, alive. If so, will they meet after the war? Theirs is a beautiful love story that carries such a lasting song of hope throughout the novel (like the Bluebird). And oh how their chemistry sings!
Various family relationships are explored. In the past, of note, are siblings Adele and Marie Savard. These sisters begin with opposite views on the Prohibition but when events stir up the conflict, are there changes in the wind? Then there’s the Bailey brothers John and Jerry. John is the eldest and has a fiery temperament that sometimes gets him into strife. Yet he has always taken care of his younger brother, Jerry, who is usually the calm and even-keeled one but even he has his moments of losing control. Their loyalty to each other, though, is steadfast.
The author covers many interesting topics surrounding the Great War, including the Spanish flu that swept through many towns and cut down families (1918-20). Some injustices are touched upon such as the lack of identity and no pay for porters. Plus the issues soldiers faced in coming home when they tried to re-establish their lives, after being deeply affected by their horrific experiences.
Also, we learn a lot about tunnelling. Tunnelling plays an important role in the historical thread and reappears in the present. Without giving anything away, I will say it is an interesting part of the plot during and after the War. Tunnellers were specialist miners employed by the military to dig tunnels to place mines beneath the enemy’s positions. At opportune times, they detonated sections of trenches to cause confusion. This would give the infantry an advantage to advance to the enemy’s front lines. I must mention for those interested, there is an award winning film called Beneath Hill 60 that delivers a story (set in 1916) of the first Australian Tunnelling Company that made tunnels under German fortifications and bunkers. Well worth the watch.
And we cannot forget the Canadian war nurses who wore blue uniforms with white veils and how soldiers nicknamed them Bluebirds. Such an appropriate title not only for their clothing but what they represented. The Bluebird is a symbol of ‘joy, love, hope and renewal’ and is a very fitting symbol for the nurses who attended the injured men at war.
A major focus of the story is Prohibition and the effects it had on society. This led to the successful rum running business that occurred after the war when soldiers and nurses returned home. A lot of alcohol was shipped across the waters in the middle of the night to United States (Detroit) from Canada (Ontario). The many islands between them made it hard to detect the smuggling operations. Bluebird focuses on the wars between runners that were often led by some dangerous, hard-hearted men like Ernie (a head mobster) our anti-hero. It makes you wonder though, what kind of life led him to develop such a callused conscience. Ms Graham does show us an earlier version of who he was and the tragedies of his past so that we can see the starting point of his path. Of course, how a character responds to early negative experiences determines their outcome. People can choose forgiveness or revenge. In Ernie’s case, he chose a life of revenge and this creates some nail-biting drama in Bluebird. In many ways, Ernie’s gaping flaws and vengeful actions help to drive character development in our hero, Jerry and, to a lesser extent, his older brother John.
To say the least, you will love these characters! And Bluebird’s fast-paced plot will keep you on the edge of your seat (literally!). I was connected hook, line and sinker and while seeing all the drama of these characters’ lives, it was easy to care about them and hope for the best outcome. But just as life is never cut and dry, everything does not turn out as expected. This story has its twists for its flesh and blood heroes and anti-heroes are not one dimensional. We get to see all their weaknesses and, in some cases, their redeeming qualities. This allows us to watch them grow, change and fulfill their destinies.
I could easily rave on about this brilliant story so, yes, I highly recommend this novel. But hang on to your hat, for it is a supercharged ride and one you will never forget! 5 Explosive Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Genevieve Graham, her publisher Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for a review copy.
