Odd & True

July 10, 2017
Sisters Odette and Trudchen Grey grew up believing that their mother was a monster hunter, and Od never stopped telling Tru stories of their mother’s exploits, even after they were sent to live on their aunt’s Oregon farm as girls. In 1909, on Tru’s 15th birthday, Od returns after a two-year absence (she says she joined a circus) and insists that Tru leave with her. Tru is hesitant—her leg, nearly useless after a bout with polio, slows her down—but eventually it’s onward to Philadelphia they go, confronting their pasts and maybe even something right out of a nightmare. The story jumps between the sisters’ viewpoints, past and present, and as the truth of Od’s time in the “circus” becomes clear, so does her heartbreak, and the lengths she’s gone to protect her sister. Winters’s captivating, poignant tale of childhood magic and the bond between sisters ends a bit neatly, but readers won’t care, drawn steadily forward by the book’s mysteries and by Od and Tru’s resilient faith in each other. Ages 12–up. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary.

Starred review from August 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Trudchen, a polio survivor who reads tea leaves, is the younger sister to Odette, and both are Maria's daughters. All through Tru's youth, Od would fill her head with magical, fantastical stories to fill the dark times. After a two-year absence, Od returns looking haunted and accompanied by a case full of mysterious weapons that she promises will help kill monsters. Soon, the siblings whisk away on an adventure to find their mother, and many interesting characters and events cross their path. This story, which takes place in early 1900s Oregon, alternates from the sisters' past and their present, and is told through Tru and Od's perspectives. Through the interweaving time lines and points of view, readers will begin to question if the girls really do have magical powers. Teens will be anticipating what lurks in the next chapter. The story is adventurous and fast paced, and Winters' atmospheric writing and exploration of themes such as storytelling, family, disability, and trauma will entice many teens. VERDICT An excellent purchase for creepy historical fiction shelves, especially where the author's works are popular.-Maeve Dodds, Charlotte Mecklenburg Lib., NC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2017
A tale of two sisters unfolds in Winters' (The Steep and Thorny Way, 2016, etc.) latest historical offering of monsters, magic, and family.Storytelling and the blur between truth and fiction are at the heart of this metafictive narrative as sisters Trudchen "Tru" and Odette "Od" Grey each tell parts of their personal and family histories. In 1909, 15-year-old Tru, rendered pragmatic by life on an Oregon farm with a polio-related and painful disability, no longer believes her sister's many fantastical tales of their mother's adventures as a monster hunter. She is adamant that their family (and herself especially) is nothing but ordinary, but no sooner has Tru set aside fanciful hearth magic and fears of the supernatural than Od suddenly appears to whisk her away across the country to hunt down monsters. Od's part of the story, on the other hand, begins 15 years earlier as she recounts a fraught family legacy of loss, pain, and perseverance and of the "real-life monsters" that stalk the stories of her mother's and her own lives. As the sisters cautiously confront the legendary Leeds Devil, a demonic beast attacking New Jersey and nearby states in 1909, storytelling becomes both a weapon and a lens through which they come to see and better understand their family and themselves. Winters has woven an intricate and innovative pattern of structure, genre, and history that cannot fail to capture readers' imaginations. (Historical fiction. 14-adult)

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Starred review from August 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Now that her older sister, Od, has disappeared to God knows where, Tru lives on her memories of the stories Od told of powerful monster fighters in their family's history. The longer Od's away, however, the less Tru believes in the fantasy: after all, how can magic really exist when she's stuck with a paralyzed leg thanks to childhood polio, trapped on her aunt's Oregon hazelnut farm, and probably fated to die a spinster? But when Od returns one night with a wild plan to run away and take on the Leeds Devil in New Jersey, Tru, despite her skepticism, agrees to join her, especially if it means finding their mother again. In chapters alternating between the sisters' perspectives, Tru recounts their magic- and monster-filled journey eastward, while Od reveals the grim reality behind her fantastic stories about their family and her disappearance. As the sisters tell their respective tales and, sometimes painfully, sift fact from fiction, Winters gradually pulls back layers of the truth, revealing a story deeper and darker than any garden-variety monster-killing quest could be. As usual, Winters deftly weaves historical events into her novel, which further enlivens this early-twentieth-century tale. In particular, her depiction of the insidious way women and young girls were treated at the turn of the century is just as terrifying as any demon. Thought-provoking, atmospheric, and utterly bewitching.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Odette has always told younger sister Trudchen tales of their monster-hunting mother; after Od runs away, her letters home claim she's conducting cryptozoology research around the country. When the sisters reunite, Tru learns there's more truth to Od's outlandish stories than she imagined. Like a turn-of-the-twentieth-century, gender-swapped spin on television's �cf2]Supernatural�cf1], this is engrossing paranormal horror with two strong, smart female leads.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)