REVIEW: Little Souls by Sandra Dallas was a fabulous book! I gave it FIVE stars for FIVE reasons. I’ll list them for you below.

Number One ~ I loved the time period. It took place during the period of the 1918 flu and World War I. It was interesting how the epidemic was handled then compared to how it has been handled during our current Covid-19 epidemic. The same type of precautions were taken and at times precautions were thrown to the wind. The parades and the celebrations in the streets when the end of the war was declared was one instance.

Number Two ~ The characters in this book were people we could relate to. Much like we think they may have been in that time period. More gentle and caring. Hardworking people. The main character was an artist for a popular department store that drew the advertisements for the newspaper. We’ve all seen the black and white drawings but, for some reason, I never imagined someone be employed to do that all day everyday.

Number Three ~ The cost of homes in that day for a modest family home was in the neighborhood of $1000.00. I like reading how they were frugal with their money. Many folks in town did not own a care because there were trolleys running through town and it was easy enough to walk to the stop and jump on the trolley to get to near where you wanted to go. 

Number Four ~ I grew to understand that although we have many more advancements in the medical field, we still fell short when it came to treating Covid-19. They fell very short when it came to treating the Spanish Flu. They absolutely didn’t have any drugs to combat the flu. When the sick started to turn blue, they knew the end was near. In fact, they called it the Spanish Flu but they think it may have started in the United States and our service men took it to other countries when they went to fight the war.

Number Five ~ I loved the slang that was used during that time. We have all heard the police called Coppers in the old films. It was fun to see how the vocabulary was sometimes used during that time. I really enjoyed that time period in the book.

Sandra Dallas did a fine job in the book. Some folks resist reading anything about a pandemic but, I don’t think it was really that prominent in the book. It might have been for someone that has lost a loved one to the pandemic but, it may be just something you can relate to. Overall, the book related to the stamina of people in hard times and the will to move forward and do what is right. 

I think this book should be required reading. It was so good and there was so much to be learned. 

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SYNOPSIS: Sandra Dallas’s Little Souls is a gripping tale of sisterhood, loyalty, and secrets set in Denver amid America’s last deadly flu pandemic

Colorado, 1918. World War I is raging overseas, but it’s the home front battling for survival. With the Spanish Flu rampant, Denver’s schools are converted into hospitals, churches and funeral homes are closed, and nightly horse-drawn wagons collect corpses left in the street. Sisters Helen and Lutie have moved to Denver from Ohio after their parents’ death. Helen, a nurse, and Lutie, a carefree advertising designer at Neusteter’s department store, share a small, neat house and each finds a local beau – for Helen a doctor, for Lutie a young student who soon enlists. They make a modest income from a rental apartment in the basement. When their tenant dies from the flu, the sisters are thrust into caring the woman’s small daughter, Dorothy. Soon after, Lutie comes home from work and discovers a dead man on their kitchen floor and Helen standing above the body, an icepick in hand. She has no doubt Helen killed the man—Dorothy’s father—in self-defense, but she knows that will be hard to prove. They decide to leave the body in the street, hoping to disguise it as a victim of the flu.

Meanwhile Lutie also worries about her fiance “over there”. As it happens, his wealthy mother harbors a secret of her own and helps the sisters as the danger deepens, from the murder investigation and the flu.

Set against the backdrop of an epidemic that feels all too familiar, Little Souls is a compelling tale of sisterhood and of the sacrifices people make to protect those they love most.