Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio
Plume
Trade Paperback, 286 pages
In 2011, Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels–The Violets of March and The Bungalow. With Blackberry Winter–taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon–Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time.
Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, goodnight and departs to work the night-shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May-Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying face-down on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks, or the perpetrator’s.
Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 “blackberry winter” storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways…
Review:This book was recommended to me by my cousin, who had been introduced to Sarah Jio through her public library’s book club.
It’s got a bit of everything you would want from contemporary fiction – romance, mystery, and family drama. I really liked the story format – seeing the way in which past events paralleled with the present day narration. The characters were easy to relate to and a part of that is through Sarah Jio’s writing, which I really enjoyed. I don’t think I was expecting the story to be a mystery but it turned out that way as you read through the novel and start making conjectures yourself about what happened to the little boy who was abducted.
I’m curious about Sarah Jio now and will be picking up more books of hers to read.
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