Blackberry Winter refers to a May snowstorm, an unexpected turn of nature, and it is this snowstorm in Seattle that sets off a series of events, both in present day Seattle and the depression era of 1933, that are at the heart of Sarah Jio’s exceptional novel, Blackberry Winter.
Blackberry Winter begins in 1933 with single mother Vera Ray and her young son, Daniel. Vera is poor and alone and must work the nightshift at a local hotel to support herself and her son. She leaves her child for the night, tucking him and kissing him goodbye, never realizing that devastation will soon follow. When Vera returns from work, Daniel is gone. All that is left is a tiny teddy bear out on the frozen, snow covered streets. Vera is mentally destroyed by the loss of her son and begins a desperate search for him.
The novel switches back-and-forth between present day Seattle and past. Claire Aldridge is a reporter for the Seattle Herald and is experiencing a late season snowstorm. She is assigned to write a piece on this natural phenomenon and begins researching the last time such a storm occurred. She discovers the story of the missing child from 1933 and begins to investigate what happened on that fateful night.
Through her own research and investigation, Claire begins to confront her own personal and emotional struggles with her husband, facing issues that she has kept buried.
This is Jio’s third novel and she continues to excel at telling a great story. Her characters come alive on the page and her description of places, both present and past, are exceptional. I love the juxtaposition between then and now and the way she seamlessly intersperses two distinct time periods and the people who inhabit them.
Sarah Jio has established herself as a great literary talent and a writer to watch.
