The Medium by Noelle Sickels

I enjoy historical fiction and the fact that the main character is a medium, channelling the spirits of dead soldiers and sailors, added a level of fascination and interest. The only thing is, I think the book should have ended 100 pages sooner...with the death of the fiancee, Billy.

The book begins when Helen Schneider, the young medium in training, is just 13. Her grandmother is her mentor and the elder woman is also a medium, although not always a very honest one. Helen, though, has natural and true abilities. She is a strong medium.

In the years before the war, the author weaves in real events to add to the story. She's got the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio program scare that sent people into the streets in a panic because they thought the Martians were landing! I'm surprised, though, that there was no mention of the Hindenburg.

Helen has always been in love with Billy Mackey. That was the other plot line in the book. Sometimes there'd be mention of Billy's younger brother Lloyd but it was just to show what a wild young man he was.

After the war begins, Helen is visited by soldier after soldier. She also has a visual materialization involving the deaths of many Jewish people. The Army gets wind of all this and warns her about using her power. That puts a damper on Helen's abilities.

Billy starts out working for a defense plant but as he and Helen decide to get married, he feels compelled to join the service.

Up until this point, my only complaint was that the characters seemed superficial. For instance, there is anti-German-American sentiment but the feelings of the family isn't explored much about that. Even Helen's grief about Billy seemed sort of detached to me. I felt that the story really ended at that point and yet it went on.

It wasn't a bad story. It was pretty entertaining. It just ran a little too long and the last hundred pages or so were too melodramatic (Helen is arrested as a posible spy by the army)for me. Try it, you might like it a lot better than I did.