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Songs of Spring
by Naomi WarkPublish: Jul 06, 2022Historical FictionBook Overview
Awakened by anguished cries coming from her mother’s bedroom, Pearl Mooney sat up from the stuffed flour sack mattress on the floor. The sight of her empty bed with its covers tossed in a heap, reminds her of her mother’s condition and the reason for her aunt’s arrival the previous day.In the kitchen, her Aunt stood at the wood stove with steam rising from a pot of boiling water. “The baby is coming today.”
Pearl ‘s resentment resurfaced. After ten years as an only child, Pearl is going to have to share her parent’s affection. She will have to help care for and share her room with her new brother or sister, worse yet the baby might interfere with her dream of attending high school. But during the delivery, her aunt’s whispered words, “We’re losing her,” send a chill down Pearl’s spine.
Set in the Puget Sound region, Songs of Spring, like my debut novel, Wildflowers in Winter, was inspired by diaries and copious hand-written notes dating back to 1919, and discovered upon the death of a grandmother.
My historical fiction, Songs of Spring, explores the relationship between Pearl and her much younger sister, Edna, during the first two decades of the twentieth century and a period of extreme population growth and constant innovations. Despite technological progress, the rights of workers and especially the rights of women were still hampered. During this period, the sisters’ lives are shaped in part by their physical separation along with unfortunate choices and the historical events of the time, including the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, the Great War, and the 1918 pandemic. Confronted by societal constraints, especially on women, can Pearl and Edna find fulfillment in their choices and achieve their dreams?
