Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber is categorized as Southern magical realism. This isn’t a normal genre I would pick to read, but I’m glad I did. The title and cover intrigued me, and I had to find out why so many people were recommending it.
The cafe gets its name from a cluster of blackbirds that consistently appears outside the cafe only at midnight. This unusual behavior brings a large number of bird watchers to the small town. The cafe also attracts the townies who come to get their fix of blackberry pie. They are “characters” in more than one sense of the word. They believe that eating the pie enables them to get messages in their dreams from their dearly departed loved ones. Readers are lead to draw conclusions about the birds and their connection to the pie and Anna Kate. This is where the “magical” in magical realism comes in, but it isn’t overdone.The characters are the main focus of the book, not the magical aspects, and the points made through the story are important ones.
The book is organized by alternating Anna Kate and Natalie’s point of view. Anna Kate has come to Wicklow, Alabama to bury her grandmother, Zee, and settle her estate. If she stays and runs Zee’s cafe for two months, she will inherit it. Anna Kate wants to sell it and go on to med school in the fall, just as she had planned. Natalie has just returned to Wicklow, the town where she grew up. She and her daughter are seeking refuge in her parent’s guest house after the death of her husband. Living so close to her overbearing mother is difficult, but Natalie doesn’t have many options. Although the cafe has been set as off-limits by her mother, Natalie needs a job.
As Anna Kate finds herself embracing the town, she learns more about family secrets that explain why her mother kept her away from Wicklow her whole life. As family secrets are uncovered, it becomes obvious that the two young women are more connected than they could have guessed.
At the beginning I had to tell myself to keep going, that it’s just a different kind of book than I’m used to. Once I let go of expecting traditional conventions, I enjoyed the book. Occasionally reading something different helps to ignite creativity in my personal writing because it gets me to think about stories in a new way. Although it isn’t usually a word that describes literature, I felt the book was folk-artsy in the best possible way.
Fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Fannie Flagg will enjoy this story. Just like some people love apple pie while others love cherry, Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe won’t be everyone’s first choice, but I recommend it. Blackberry may be the flavor of the day!