The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The wonderful world of vaudeville has always fascinated me, and I’m only sad that Marina Endicott’s book did such a fantastic job of taking me into that world that I felt bereft when the book ended. My good friend YA author Karen Krossing (The Yo-yo Prophet) has taught me a lot about writing from an organizing principle, and I thoroughly appreciated Endicott’s mining of the vaudeville conventions in the way she presents the stories of the three Avery girls and their mother in a four-act structure with placards introducing the scenes. The motivations of the family for entering vaudeville were clearly depicted, and my interest never waned in following their journey together and their individual journeys in that hectic, chaotic life. I found the author’s notes almost as absorbing as the story itself, and the depth and excellence of Endicott’s research shows in every detail. This would make a marvellous book club pick, and is a worthy successor to Good to a Fault.