Martha Brooks, Martha. Queen of Hearts. Groundwood Books Limited, 2010. Tr. $17.99 ISBN 978-0-3743-4229-6
What’s it about?
Imagine having tuberculosis and living in a sanatorium, not knowing if you will survive. This is fiery sixteen-year-old Marie-Claire’s life, and she is fighting to live it.
Find out more:
It’s the year 1940, and French Canadian Marie-Claire’s itinerant uncle Gerard is staying with the family. He contracts tuberculosis, and continues to stay with the family because there are no beds at the nearby sanitarium. He finally gets a bed at the Pembina Hills Sanitarium, but he does not recover. After he passes away, Marie-Claire and her two younger siblings are also diagnosed with the disease, and are sent to the sanitarium as well. The treatments are nearly as harsh as the disease—collapsing of the lungs, removal of ribs, overnight exposure to icy cold winter air—and nothing can prevent Marie-Claire’s brother Luc from succumbing to the illness. Marie-Claire becomes very ill as well, but she eventually begins to mend, and becomes friends with her much sicker roommate, Signy. When she gets stronger, she begins to notice a boy—Jack Hawkings—who is a musician, and a fellow patient. He is near recovery, and as Marie-Claire’s health continues to improve, their relationship also gains strength.
Queen of Hearts is a sad book, and very realistic. Brooks doesn’t shy away from the tragedy and ugliness of tuberculosis, or its treatments. The descriptions of the frail Signy, in particular, who has had nine ribs removed and is forever deformed—if she lives—is haunting. The prose and complex characters make for high quality writing, which makes up for the somewhat uneven pacing. Marie-Claire struggles with being an invalid, and her headstrong nature makes her relationships more difficult. She is initially quite unfriendly to Signy because of she dislikes her Pollyanna-esqe demeanor. How could anyone be happy in a sanatorium? Marie-Claire eventually seeks her friendship, and opens her mind and heart to a romantic relationship as well. Queen of Hearts is not likely to fly off the shelves, but may find a niche audience among historical fiction fans grades 6 and up. The target audience will definitely skew female, although boys may relate to the feisty Marie-Claire. The romance in this title is poignant, and doesn’t begin to build until two third of the way through the book, not enough to truly bill this as a romance.
Genre label: Historical Fiction, elements of romance
Reading level: 4th-5th grade
Interest level: Grades 6-12
Read-alikes:
Joan Blos’s A Gathering of Days
Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793
Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Subjects/themes: Tuberculosis, sanitariums, dying, death, chronic illness, grieving, friendship, romance
Awards: Starred reviews in Kirkus, School Library Journal and Horn Book
Character name/descriptions:
Marie-Claire—the protagonist, an impetuous teen stricken with tuberculosis
Jack—Marie-Claire’s eventual boyfriend
Signy—Marie-Claire’s roommate and eventual friend
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