Review: Sparrow's Song by Marilee Aufdenkamp
Sparrow’s Song
Shortly after Kathryn Scheibel leaves her cigar‑making job in 1917, she enters the Army School of Nursing, a pioneering WWI nurse‑training program that offers the education she’s longed for but couldn’t afford. More than two decades later, her career carries her, as an instructor, into the Cadet Nurse Corps, the federal WWII nursing‑education initiative created to support the war effort. There she sees the same pressures she once felt now directed at students with even fewer protections. When two Black students are treated unfairly, Kathryn must decide how to respond.
Sparrow’s Song is a sweeping, intimate novel about resilience and belonging, rooted in the real history of wartime federal nursing education and the evolving landscape of modern American nursing. At its heart is a young immigrant woman pushing herself toward the advantages she’s convinced education will unlock, even as that drive pulls her away from the people and heritage she loves.
Review:
Some novels draw you in with their fascinating historical events; others focus on the quieter side of historical fiction: ordinary people's lives.
Sparrow's Song is firmly in the second category. It begins in 1917, when meet young Kathryn Scheibel. Her family had moved from Russia to America in the hope of carving a new life for themselves there. Hardworking Germans whose ancestors had been lured to Russia by Catherine The Great (herself of German stock), the Scheibels live in a community with other families who found themselves in the same situation in a more and more volatile Russia.
But with war raging in Europe, their ancestry has become a target for some, whilst their community also appears to restrict chances of a different life, away from deeply-held traditions. Following the suicide of a Swedish co-worker at the cigar-making factory where Kathryn works, she openly questions her life - and the path she's due to take. Get married within the community, and raise children in their established way. Instead, Kathryn seeks education and opportunities, alienating her from her family.
She takes on a post as a live-in housemaid with the well-off Abbott family, and becomes intrigued by Mrs Abbot's increasing interest in women's suffrage. This affects Kathryn's way of thinking, and sets her on the road to a future away from homne.
She eventually follows her path and becomes a nursing instructor, but the way there is littered with hurdles wherever she goes. Kathryn faces each challenge head-one, in a determined – if patronising – manner.
Meanwhile, during a rare visit back home for a funeral, she realises that her original community has changed. It has outgrown its boundaries, and many Germans from Russia have built something for themselves. This realisation leads to her questioning her path. What is she to do?
Sparrow's Song is a personal, close-up novel about a woman's journey from young, impressionable girl to an intelligent, questioning adult who is not shy in voicing her opinions, as she does when two black girls join the college where she works. She holds a mirror up at the administration which openly encourages division, aware of the consequences for herself. Kathryn always wanted to belong, but is this really where she wants to be?
Sparrow's Song is an incredibly detailed account about the way of life of the community of Germans from Russia in rural Nebraska in the first half of the 20th century. Despite having lived in Russia for a few generations, these Germans maintained their culture and language, which they continued to do in America. I found the use of German in dialogue worked very well in adding a strong sense of family life. Attitudes were clearly still Germanic, as was the incredible work ethic, even though they had nothing to do with Germany's ambitions in Europe during the world wars. It was a different world, yet with the same imbued sense of community, tradition, work, and duty.
Ms Aufdenkamp has undertaken an enormous amount of research for this novel, and it shows wonderfully on every page. Not only do we experience the daily struggles of those German immigrants, we also witness the rise of women's suffrage, the growing importance of nursing, wars and hardship, and the importance of faith. We also see the dark side of racial segregation.
Readers get a strong sense of 'being there', of established habits, of change vs ingrained traditions – and of people's attitudes amidst the wide range of social & political changes at the time. Quite a challenge for any author, and Ms Aufdenkamp succeeded in bringing it all seamlessly together.
For readers interested in the historical background to Sparrow's Song, Ms Aufdenkamp added an old German recipe for a cake (which I'm tempted to try out) and a detailed research reading list at the end of the book.
Recommended for readers who enjoy novels about established communities, inevitable change, and new beginnings amidst political and societal upheaval.
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