Puss Reboots: Blog: February 2021: Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

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Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
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Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All: 02/14/21

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby is historical fiction set in a Chicago orphanage during WWII. Frankie and her sister Toni were left at the orphanage when their parents could no longer care for them. Frankie has plans to escape and to take her sister with her. Their plight and plans are narrated by the ghost of a dead woman.

The ghost intersperses the story of Frankie and Toni with memories from her own life. But I had the same problem with her lengthy asides as I did with Death as the narrator of The Book Thief (2005). Basically, I found her narrative to be a distraction.

I normally tear through Laura Ruby's books. This one, though, didn't work for me. It's two parallel tales of young women being abused and abandoned by people they should be able to trust. The choice to have one of them narrate both as a ghost in an otherwise realistic historical fiction was jarring.

Three stars