Yesterday's Dead

by Pat Bourke Narrated by Michelle Ferguson

Overview

It is the end of the First World War, and thirteen-year-old Meredith yearns to become a teacher. But she must leave school to help support her family, moving to the city to work as a maid in a wealthy doctor's home. As the deadly Spanish Flu sweeps across the city, members of the household fall ill one by one. With the doctor working night and day at the hospital, only Meredith and the doctor's children, Maggie and Jack, are left to care for them. Every day the newspapers' lists of “Yesterday's Dead” add to Meredith's growing fears. When Jack becomes gravely ill, Meredith must stop fighting with Maggie so they can work together to save him. As Meredith wrestles with questions of duty and responsibility, she opens the door to a future that she thought had been closed forever.

Editorial Reviews

LibrisNotes

It's refreshing to read a novel with a Canadian perspective on such a major historical event. A great debut novel for author Pat Bourke.

Silver's Reviews

Enjoy the book....I certainly did and benefited from the history lesson. I definitely enjoyed the interaction among the characters. This would make a great discussion in a classroom in terms of how today's youth would feel about the way the characters reacted to each other and how illnesses are treated differently today.

CM Magazine

Bourke quietly conveys the impact of the Great War and the Spanish flu on our then fledgling country of just over 8 million people. Many of our ancestors were scarred by these tragedies. Yet the historical elements never overwhelm the human story of Meredith and her friends. Realistic dialogue, skilled pacing and evocative detail bring them to life and make the reader sorry when the novel ends. "Yesterday's Dead" truly deserves praise and prizes.

CanLit for Little Canadians Blog

This book was an amazing read, and I knew right after our librarian, Ms. Kubiw, had explained it to us, that it would be the first one I read and probably the one I would most enjoy. Thank you so much for writing this awesome book, and I sincerely hope there will be a series or more books to come like this. Sincerely, Grace D. Age 12

Quill & Quire

The story’s pacing is pitch-perfect, and Bourke advances the plot at just the right clip. She uses dialogue to great advantage, both as a tool for defining her characters and for introducing different opinions on the epidemic. ... Yesterday’s Dead is a well-written story with an engaging protagonist. Both witness and survivor, Meredith pulls readers through the crisis and touches the lives of everyone around her. Bourke does a great job of calling attention to a brief but important moment in history.

Resource Links

This well-written and perfectly paced novel will keep readers thoroughly engaged as they feel they are right there along with Meredith as the household falls sick one by one.

Booklist Online

A survival story located not on a snowy mountain but in a lavish house

Canadian Children's Book News

Pat Bourke has crafted a fantastically detailed novel that would satisfy any young reader’s desire to find out about the past.

Susie Bookworm

Meredith is a likable character - young, intelligent, outspoken, caught in a negative situation, but not too rebellious. She suits both the time period and the readers' expectations of her behavior. Pat Bourke makes real to younger readers the terror of being struck with an epidemic little understood by the public at the time.

Susie Bookworm blog

"A quick, highly informative historical read, perfect for its intended audience and for others of us as well."

School Library Journal

Gr 5–8—Meredith is reluctantly sent into domestic service by her mother, who is having financial trouble since both her husband and her father died. Thirteen but pretending to be 15, she is taken to Toronto by a placement agent and set to work in the kitchen of a well-to-do widowed doctor's home under the supervision of the kindly cook, Mrs. Butters. Meredith hates the work and the long hours but is glad she can send money to her mother. World War I is winding down and the flu epidemic is spreading across the U.S. and Canada. The household initially feels safe as there have been only a few cases in the area. However, that rapidly changes as people begin contracting the contagious and deadly illness. One by one members of the household become ill, including Mrs. Butters and Dr. Waterton's two sons, leaving only Meredith and his incredibly spoiled 13-year-old daughter, Maggie, to care for everyone. The main characters are finely drawn, especially Meredith, who chafes at being treated as a servant, and Maggie, who is the epitome of a pampered, self-centered young teen. Both girls show considerable growth during the crisis as they discover they must work together and that they both have talents, although different ones. The story vividly depicts the family's fear and the victims' suffering.—Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC

Kirkus Reviews

As the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918 in Toronto reaches epidemic proportion, the local newspapers run lengthy lists of "yesterday's dead," a chilling backdrop to 13-year-old maidservant Meredith's personal struggle as the disease ravages the household where she works. Impoverished, Meredith had to lie about her age in order to be hired by the Watertons. While the friendly cook and kind chauffeur immediately reach out to her, the butler, Parker, who rules the household, is rude and critical. Tasked not only with helping in the kitchen but also with watching the motherless youngest child in the family, lively 6-year-old Harry, Meredith mostly manages, struggling only with the middle daughter, severely spoiled Maggie. As the disease begins to overwhelm the city, Dr. Waterton is called away, leaving Parker and the eldest son, Jack (to whom Meredith feels a certain attraction) in charge. Then family and staff begin to fall ill, and responsibility finally shifts almost solely to Meredith. While largely predictable, and peopled with stock characters (albeit engaging ones), the strong sense of place and time and the vivid peril of the deadly disease keep the plot rushing believably forward. Meredith's very human fluctuations between despair and determination in the face of tragedy add considerably to the authenticity of her character. A gripping depiction of a tragic epidemic and the sometimes heroic responses of those affected. (Historical fiction. 10-15)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177015934
Publisher:	ECW Press
Publication date:	02/15/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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