In the Shadow of Blackbirds

This novel by Cat Winters takes place during two simultaneously occurring tragic events: World War I and the Spanish influenza epidemic. With death surrounding everyone, spiritualism, spirit photography, and seances have become incredibly popular in the United States and Europe. Mary Shelley Black has been sent to live with her aunt after the death of her mother and the arrest and imprisonment of her father who is a pacifist and anti-draft activist.  After the death of her childhood friend and recent love interest Stephen, who enlisted in the army at age 17 and was sent to fight in France, Mary, in her grief, steps out into a thunderstorm and is hit by lightening and dies briefly. Hovering over her body, she is compelled to return to life, but something has changed in her. Never a believer in spirits, she finds she suddenly can communicate with Stephen, who is suffering and believes he is being attacked and tortured by blackbirds. What follows is a desperate search for the truth of what happened to Stephen which includes delving into seances and spirit photography to solve the mystery.
This book can best be described as an historical mystery/fantasy.  Plenty of atmospheric description of seances, and the society which believed in the ability to contact dead spirits, as well as the horror of the influenza epidemic. The terror felt by ordinary people is palpable and descriptions of those who died of the flu that year are not for those with weak stomachs!   Highly recommended!