Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
Published by Balzer + Bray on October 1, 2019
ISBN: 0062317644
Pages: 358
Genres: Historical Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

This historical fiction novel with a paranormal twist is recommended for cream consideration. A Chicago orphanage is the setting in 1941 where a Sicilian-American teen named Francesca (Frankie) and her siblings are raised as their father abandons them by taking a new wife and moving to Colorado to better his financial situation.   Frankie fights to be independent of the painful and abandonment of her father through a brief, but poignant tryst with Sam who enlists and losses his life overseas.   This is historical fiction at its best with the added bonus of a ghost narrator.  The poverty of the times, the extreme pressures that females were placed under to survive and the race and cultural wrongs of the period are examined effortlessly through the vivid stories of  Frankie, the ghost and a variety of fleshed out secondary characters both human and spirit.  The book was a National Book Award 2019 Finalist.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Springvale Public Library