This was an unexpected and strange book. A girl dies during the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, and comes back to life thanks to some last minute conjuring by her mother, who also dies and reanimates thanks to the same magic. Maddy, the girl, abandoned by her free-spirit mother, goes on to pair up with a World War I veteran she calls Mutter, and finds herself caught up in the early days of filmmaking. Kind of a creepy Forrest Gump, she finds herself part of major points in cinematic history, from the horror films of German Expressionism to the glory days of Universal's monster movies. Characters like Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, James Whale, and Tod Browning have supporting roles.

Fans of Hollywood's golden age and filmmaking buffs will sit through this one, but there's something missing to pull it all together and make it unputdownable.