I first learned about Midnight at the Blackbird Café when the Speculative Chic editor tagged me in a Facebook post about the book. It’s a well-known fact that reading and baking are my truest loves. The gorgeous blueberry tart on the cover immediately caught my attention because it looks so delicious. Every aspect of the book felt tailor-made for me. I adore magical realism. The main character gets a chance to run a bakery/café? One of my all-time favorite daydreams. I enjoyed the book when I first read it back in 2019. I made it my book club selection because it was heart-warming and fun. I also wanted a book that was mostly grounded in reality for those who might be a little hesitant about speculative fiction.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe (2019)
Written by: Heather Webber Genre: Magical Realism Pages: 333 (Paperback)

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

The Premise:

THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER Heather Webber’s Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

As this is a book club discussion, there will be spoilers ahead.

Discussion

There is a lot going on in this book. Anna Kate is preparing to enter medical school when her beloved grandmother, Zee, dies. Zee’s will requires that Anna Kate come to Wicklow, Alabama to run the Blackbird Café for three months. Although Anna Kate and Zee were close, this is her first time in Wicklow. Her mother, Eden, fled the town after a car accident killed Anna Kate’s father and his parents, the Lindens, blamed Eden. As a result, Doc and Seelie Linden did not even know that Anna Kate existed, even though Eden herself passed away a few years earlier. At the same time, the Linden’s daughter, Natalie, has also returned to town with her young daughter, Ollie, after her husband’s mysterious death in a boating accident.

The specialty of the Blackbird Café are pies that convey messages from dead loved ones through dreams. Only a guardian, a woman of Zee’s lineage, can make these pies. The café is also home to a flock of mysterious blackbirds who live in the mulberry trees and only sing at midnight. These oddly behaved blackbirds attract herds of bird tourists. When a guardian dies, she turns into a blackbird. When she is a little girl, Zee tells Anna Kate,

“While on earth, it’s the job of the guardians to tend the trees, nurture them, and gather their love to bake into pies to serve those who mourn, those left behind. You see, the bonds of love are only strengthened when someone leaves this earth, not diminished. Some have trouble understanding that, so it’s the pie that determines who’s in need of a message, a reminding, if you will; it’s the love in the pie that connects the two worlds; and it’s a tree keeper who delivers the message” (p. 37).

The book alternates between Anna Kate’s and Natalie’s points-of-view. Although I liked Natalie, this really should have been Anna Kate’s story. Between deciding if she can forgive the Lindens, figuring out how to run the café, and coming to terms with her inheritance as a healer and guardian, there is more than enough conflict in Anna Kate’s story alone. Natalie’s primary conflict is whether or not she should eat the magic pie to see if her late husband’s death was an accident or a suicide. She is also struggling with her proper Southern mother’s interference with how she raises her daughter and starting a budding romance with the local mountain man, Cam Kolbaugh. The book got spread a little too thin between the two women’s multiple issues. I did appreciate how deftly Webber handles Natalie’s grief and panic attacks. Cam tells Natalie, “Traumatic events leave emotional wounds that are hard to heal. Everyone has their own way of getting though it” (p. 116). No one shames or scolds Natalie for her pain, which I found refreshing.

I could totally see Midnight at the Blackbird Café being turned into a Hallmark movie, and I don’t mean that as an insult. The book is heavy on charm. The friendship that develops between Anna Kate and Natalie is incredibly sweet. My absolute favorite character in the entire book was the curmudgeonly old man, Mr. Lazenby, who eats a piece of pie every day to get messages from his dead wife. His fellow elderly customer, Pebbles, has a crush on him. One day, Pebbles buys up all the pies except the mixed berry pie, which she knows Mr. Lazenby does not like. He then refuses to eat a piece of magical pie that sends messages from beyond the grave simply because it has blueberries. Based on my experiences dealing with elderly customers, this is completely on point. Both Anna Kate and Natalie get a love interest — Army veteran/mountain man Cam for Natalie and local lawyer Gideon for Anna Kate. Finding love made sense for Natalie’s character development but did not seem necessary for Anna Kate. Two great eligible bachelors in one small town is more unrealistic than pie that lets you communicate with the dead. I do want to move to the magic town where wonderful boyfriends are growing on trees.

Midnight at the Blackbird Café does shortchange on the magic. Anna Kate’s dead relatives have turned into blackbirds and the café employees are shape-shifters who turn into a cat and a bird, but the book spends more time focusing on how Natalie doesn’t want Ollie to have swim lessons. I wanted to see actual flashbacks of Zee, because she was an amazing character just based on the glimpses that we see of her. It felt like she left Anna Kate unprepared for the fact that it’s her destiny to live in Wicklow and be the guardian of the passageway between the living and the dead. I never understood why Anna Kate did not come to Wicklow to visit Zee after her mother died. It’s obvious from the start that Anna Kate is going to choose the café, but I wished that she had really desired to go to medical school. She only applied because she promised her dead mother. Eden believed in Western medicine but Anna Kate is clearly on the side of Zee’s holistic treatments. Anna Kate’s realization that she can be a healer through caring for the town and its people would have been more powerful if medical school was something she actually wanted.

The two most interesting questions that the book raises are “Can the dead communicate with the living?” and “Would you eat the blackbird pie?” I’d love to see your answers in the comment section. I’ve been having a rough go of it lately. Between my first and second readings of this book, my beloved maternal grandfather, Lyndell, got sick and passed away, and while I was writing this review, my coworker/friend died young and very tragically by suicide. I’ve always been on the fence about whether or not people can communicate with us from the other side. My grandfather was a beekeeper for fifteen years. My mother and I recently walked out of our work into a swarm of honeybees. Bees only swarm when they are starting a new hive and they’re very mellow during this process. Normally, bees cluster up in a tree, but these bees were in a pile on the ground. We both stood in a cloud of bees without getting stung. If we had been fifteen minutes earlier or later, we would not have noticed the bees. Did Lyndell send us the bees? I don’t know, but it makes me happy to think so.

Natalie ultimately decides to forgive her late husband without trying the pie and receiving a message. If the blackbird pie existed, I would definitely eat it, even if my message was just my grandmother telling me to lose weight. I would tell my grandfather that I think of him whenever I walk on the greenway that he maintained for years. To my friend who recently passed away, I would say, “I’m sorry I never realized how much you were suffering. The world was a better place with you in. I’m going to miss you for a very long time.” If you’re struggling with your mental health, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

In Conclusion

Like a piece of pecan pie, Midnight at the Blackbird Café will probably be a little too saccharine for some people’s taste. For me, it was more like blackberry pie — definitely sweet but with enough tart bite to be truly delicious. I loved the eccentric characters and the town of Wicklow felt like a real place that I could visit. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I’m glad I chose as my book club pick.

Recommended Reading

The Returned by Jason Mott: When someone dies, especially tragically and too young, the natural human impulse is to wish that they would come back. In this haunting book, the dead return, not as zombies or vampires, but exactly the same as they were in life. Fifty years have passed since Harold and Lucille Hargrave’s only son, Jacob, drowned on his eighth birthday. Their lives are upended when a government agency brings him to their doorstep, still eight years old and seemingly alive. As more and more dead people show up, a controversy rages as to whether they are God’s miracles, demons, or even people at all. The book mostly deals with the government’s response but its quiet moments are truly terrifying. What happens when the love of your life when you were sixteen comes back but you are thirty and married? How can you care for a young boy when you are elderly and exhausted? The Returned is one of the most uniquely horrifying books that I have ever read.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: This book also deals with a charming heroine, unique magic, and a conflict between the old ways and the new. Vasya is a wild and free-spirited girl who grows up in the wintry wilds of medieval Russia. She can see the chyerti, Russian household and forest spirits. While Anna Kate is torn between her mother’s Western medicine and her grandmother’s holistic magic, the conflict in this book is between Vasya, who wants to keep the old traditions of honoring the chyerti, and a new priest who believes that Christianity is the only way. I adore this book’s fierce heroine, beautiful writing, and unforgettable story. Vasya’s tale continues in The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch, but The Bear and the Nightingale was my favorite and can be read as a stand-alone book. Read my full review of The Bear and the Nightingale here.

The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes From the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery and Café by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman: My name is Kelly and I’m a cookbook addict. The Blackbird Café made me think of this collection of stories and recipes from the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café in small-town Texas. It’s a good mix of elaborate cakes, simple cookies, and tasty savory recipes. I’d love to have an occasion to make the Rather Sweet Bread and Cheese Board, Texas Tortilla Soup, and Emergency Fruit Crostatas. I found myself wondering if Uncle Albert, the ninety-four year-old man who eats lunch at the café every day, is their Mr. Lazenby. If you like daydreaming about owning a bakery as much as I do, you will love this cookbook.

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day: This is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks. When I read it, I wonder whether it’s reasonable to plan a vacation to Savannah, Georgia just to visit the Back in the Day bakery. I’d have to go on a Saturday so I can have one of their Cinnamon Sticky Buns. This book is packed with beautiful photos and delectable recipes for breakfast sweets, cupcakes, cakes, cookies, brownies, bars, puddings, and custards. I can vouch for the Blueberry Buckle and Lovely Lemon Loaf. If Midnight at the Blackbird Café has you craving pie, The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook devotes an entire chapter, with recipes for ‘Nana Cream Pie, Salted Caramel Apple Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, and S’More Pie.

Participation Poll

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July’s Book Club Selection: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, hosted by Casey Price on Friday, July 31st!