What
if you were stuck in a sanatorium, deprived of your family, and had to spend
your days in bed battling a deadly disease? That’s exactly what 13-year-old
Evvy Hoffmeister has to go through in
Marsha
Hayles’ first novel,
Breathing Room.
Stricken
with Tuberculosis, Evvy is confined to Loon Lake Sanatorium where she is
allowed absolutely no visitors due to her contagious condition. She’s suddenly
thrust into an overwhelming and strict schedule, planning her days from 7 a.m.
to lights out at 9. The stern nurse warns her not to even talk, as that will
damage her weak and infected lungs.
During
her stay, Evvy meets fellow TB patients: dramatic and self-obsessed Pearl, shy
but sweet Sarah and blunt Dena, who provides Evvy with the terrible truth,
“People die at Loon Lake all the time.”
While
Evvy deals with her day-to-day occurrences at the hospital, she writes back and
forth to her family members, providing readers with a clear understanding of
her sweet relationships with her twin brother Abe, her father and cold, distant
mother. Through writing, Evvy finds a passion for poetry—a passion she uses to express her emotions and absorb what’s going on around her,
from disappointments to deaths.
With
quiet strength and a glimmer of hope for recovery, Evvy does her best to summon
up courage to make it through her hospitalization. She learns to understand the
girls at Loon Lake and how easily a life can be taken away.
Breathing Room’s short chapters make you want to
keep reading, and the added bonus of illustrations make the story come to life.
Marsha Hayles’ novel gives a glimpse into the much-feared illnesses prevalent
in the 1940s, and how a sickness could deeply impact the lives of many.
Read
about Evvy’s moving story in Breathing
Room (out now!). Then come back and let us know your thoughts.
Grab the book here!
What’s
one way you try to cheer up a sick friend? Blog about it, babes.
BY KELLY GIERON ON 6/20/2012 11:00:00 AM
POSTED IN entertainment, review, book reviews, Book Club, books we love, book reviews