Moscow author Makiia Lucier’s book “A Death-Struck Year” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) has been nominated for a German Children’s Literature Award.
The major prize is for works of fiction and is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Winners will be announced Oct. 21 at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Lucier’s debut young adult novel is set in Portland, Ore., during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. The Red Cross is overwhelmed by victims of the pandemic and although it often strikes young and healthy people first and can kill within one day, 17-year-old Cleo Berry puts her life at risk and volunteers. In Germany the book is sold under the title “Das Fieber.”