Review: Little Souls by Sandra Dallas

When I initially requested this book on NetGalley, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to read a book set during a epidemic considering we're still in the midst of one. I soon realized that while the Spanish Flu is prominent part of the plot, there are enough things that kept the story realistic outside of a pandemic. The author kept the story moving forward with things happening that were unrelated to the pandemic.

Denver. 1918. Influenza epidemic. WWI is still raging, though the end of the war is on the horizon. Despite the hope of the end of the war, Helen and Lucretia "Lutie" are still fighting their own war on the home front with the Spanish Flu still rampant. Helen, a nurse, and her younger sister Lutie, an advertising designer for a local women's fashion store, are homeowner's who lease out their basement apartment. When their tenant dies from the flu, the sisters find themselves becoming the primary caregivers for the tenant's young daughter, Dorothy. One night when Lutie comes home from work, she finds Helen standing over a dead body in the kitchen, which happens to be Dorothy's father. He hasn't been seen in months and he was around, he was usually drunk. Scared about the repercussions of his dead body in their house, they decide to try disguising the body as a flu victim by discarding it in the street, which turns out to not be as much of a disguise as they hoped it would be.

Meanwhile, Lutie also worries about her fiance who is fighting overseas, allowing her to form a bond with her future mother in law. Fighting her own demons, she helps the sisters and Dorothy through the murder investigation, their complicated adoption of Dorothy, and as the influenza outbreak hits close to home.

While I wish that Sandra Dallas had focused a little more on the war, I did appreciate that she focused more on the events happening at home. Adding more details about the war would've made the book too long and too dense to get through because of the already dense and difficult content.

Dallas eloquently told the story of two strong, independent sisters trying their hardest at making ends meet. Yet, despite their own hardships, they take in a young girl who has been through hell and back at a young age. Through their guidance, and her own determination, Dorothy learns to love again and overcomes her own demons.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this ebook. A copy is available at Bookshop.org and Amazon.

Book Details:
Book Title: Little Souls
Author: Nina George
Format: e-book
Published: April 26, 2022
Dates Read: Jan 25 - April 19, 2022