Sarah Jio’s new novel Blackberry Winter weaves together the past and present in a captivating tale of loss and a mother’s love. Reporter Claire Aldridge is assigned to cover a snowstorm on the anniversary of a similar surprise storm that shut down Seattle on May Day nearly 80 years before. This kind of late-season storm is called a blackberry winter. Claire’s research for a feature article on the twin snowstorms uncovers the unsolved kidnapping of a child in 1933. On that cold night, a young mother named Vera Ray was forced to leave her young son Daniel home alone while she went to work the night shift. She kissed him goodbye and went to work as a maid at the Olympic Hotel. When she returned the next morning, Vera found that 3-year-old Daniel was gone. The only trace left behind was his teddy bear Max, which Vera found outside in the snow. Police said that the boy was a runaway, but Claire doesn’t believe that’s possible of a child so young.
Vera’s tragic loss hits home for Claire, who struggling under the weight of a crumbling marriage and the loss of her own baby. She takes it upon herself to find out what really happened to Daniel. As she searches through records and learns more, she is also finally forced to face her own loss. The narrative of Blackberry Winter alternates between Claire and Vera’s perspectives to bring both of their stories to life. Jio brings readers an emotional tale with a unique conclusion to the mystery of Daniel’s disappearance.