Booktalking "A Death-Struck Year" by Makiia Lucier

Cleo Berry is a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Oregon in 1918 when her school closes due to the Spanish influenza epidemic. In order to stave off boredom, she signs up to volunteer with the Red Cross. Cleo does not anticipate facing feverish and unconscious people, people who might die without her assistance, people who needed hospital beds... if any were available.

At the Red Cross, the girl meets supervisor Hannah, whose military spouse died of the flu, colleague Kate, and honorably discharged veteran Edmund. Cleo and Edmund have a particular way of watching out for each other.

Nursing is a new domain for Cleo. Blood and feces-stained clothing became the norm for the teen. Cleo also learns about birth control, a forbidden topic of conversation.

The daily death toll includes kind people that Cleo knew; most days, she would rather avoid the newspaper. Death and illness abound. The town cannot bury people fast enough, and there is a dearth of coffins.

A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier, 2014

It was fascinating for me to read a fictionalized perspective of an epidemic.