Midnight At The Blackbird Cafe

“The women are guardians of a place where, under midnight skies, spirits cross from this world through a mystical passageway to the Land of the Dead.”

In her bedtime stories, Zee told Anna Kate about the blackbirds who visit the mulberry trees in the back of the Blackbird Café. This story is at the heart of the plot as it creates the connection Anna Kate has with Wicklow that goes beyond her blood relationship with the Linden family. It also explains the fantastical realism of the blackbirds and their connection to the pies Anna Kate bakes and sells at the café. This fantastical realism element makes this story part of the magical realism genre.

“The housing recession a decade ago had caused the town to fall on hard times with a resounding thud. A lot of the artists and craftsmen had moved along to more lucrative, populated locations like Fairhope and Mobile, abandoning their houses and shops. By the time the economy rebounded, the damage had already been done. Wicklow had struggled ever since.”

Along with employing the magical realism genre in her book, Webber also adds elements of the Southern Gothic genre to her plot. As a characteristic of the Southern Gothic genre, Webber describes the town of Wicklow in this passage as a decaying town. This is a common element in Southern Gothic. This novel includes an element of poverty that is often a part of social statements about Southern culture. This description also serves later in the novel as a contrast to the prosperity that comes to Wicklow with Anna Kate’s arrival and the visiting birdwatchers who seek the blackbirds.

“‘Are there always twenty-four birds like in that old nursery rhyme? “Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie—”’

‘When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing.’ Bow finished the quote. ‘I know it. Zee once said those birds were probably relatives.’”

Bow explores that legend of the blackbirds with the reporter who came to write about them, exposing the same fantastical elements of the story Zee told Anna Kate when she was a child. This conversation connects the blackbirds to the pies Zee sold in her café, as well as to an old nursery rhyme whose roots could likely be traced back to the same Celtic Legends and Magic to which Zee connected the blackbirds. This conversation supports customers of the café, such as Otis, who claim that the pies bring them dreams of their deceased loved ones.

“He was just a man.

A man with downturned brown eyes that looked burnished from a lifetime of sorrow.”

Anna Kate’s first impression of Doc Linden demystifies her impressions of the monstrous Lindens her mother described when she talked about AJ’s family. Anna Kate can see Doc as an ordinary man, a man burdened by the Grief and Guilt who came into his life with the death of his son, AJ. For Anna Kate, this is a profound moment that allows her to come to her own conclusion about the man Doc is, and not rely on her mother’s experience and opinions.

“AJ and Eden were on their way back from a tour of the Alabama campus when the crash happened. Seelie believes AJ told Eden he’d chosen college over her and that Eden, in a fit of madness, drove off the road.”

Doc tells Anna Kate that she’s only known one side of the story all her life, therefore she turns to others to hear the other side of the story. Jena gives Anna Kate this information, and it allows Anna Kate to understand how Seelie came to such a quick and condemning opinion of Eden’s complicity in AJ’s death. While this doesn’t answer all of Anna Kate’s questions regarding the accident, it gives her insight into Seelie and shows her willingness to see all sides of the story.

“The cat, as if it didn’t have a single care in the world, sauntered toward me and passed on by without so much as twitching a whisker in my direction.

About ten feet from me, the cat stopped. Sat. Looked over his shoulder. He took another few steps. Sat. Glanced back. ‘Reow.’

It could have been my imagination, or perhaps heat exhaustion setting in, but I could have sworn there was a hint of impatience in the cat’s voice.”

This is the first example of the gray cat’s interventions on Anna Kate’s behalf. Anna Kate is lost, and the cat comes to lead her to safety. Webber personifies the cat by giving it human traits of compassion, intelligence, and impatience. Anna Kate experiences the strange ministrations of this cat several times later in the plot, and readers may eventually put together the cat’s actions with Bow’s desire to right a wrong.

“The longer they kept silent, the sicker I felt. Minutes ticked by. The birds would be gone soon, back into the leafy tunnel. ‘What am I doing wrong?’

But even as I asked, I knew. Instinctively, I knew.

The missing ingredient.

I needed to figure out what it was.”

Anna Kate makes the connection between the secret ingredient Zee put in the pies and the blackbirds’ refusal to sing. This explores the Celtic Legends and Magic that supports the idea that the pie gives its consumer dreams of their deceased loved ones. This moment also shows the conflict that plagues Anna Kate early in the novel as she struggles between her mother’s wish she not involve herself with the blackbirds and Zee’s desire to have Anna Kate become a guardian of the blackbirds.

“I’d slept in fits and starts and woke to a dulcet female voice insistently saying my name.

‘Natalie. Natalie.’

I stirred, then stiffened in fear that I wasn’t alone in my bedroom.

‘Natalie, your father is dying.’”

An unseen voice tells Natalie her father is dying. However, as the novel progresses, and the voice comes back in connection to a bird’s nest, it seems logical that the voice is that of Jena Barthelemy in her bird form. This voice also reaches out to Anna Kate when she finds difficult circumstances baffle her. This reinforces the magical realism in the narrative, and it opens the door to more conflict as Natalie struggles with grief, her relationship with her mother, and now the possibility of her father’s death.

“Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that she was in good hands. Mama loved Ollie and wouldn’t let harm come to her.

Not willingly, anyway.

But accidents happened.

No. I refused to go there. Between Mama and Stacia, Ollie was not going to drown.

She was not going to drown.”

Natalie’s fear that Ollie might drown has roots in her husband Matthew’s drowning death and is similar to the rules Seelie placed on Natalie throughout her childhood based on Seelie’s fear of losing Natalie like she did AJ. Seelie’s decision to give Ollie swimming lessons feels like a punishment to Natalie, but it clearly shows that Seelie appreciates what her fear did to her relationship with Natalie after AJ’s death, and her desire to prevent something similar in Natalie’s relationship with Ollie. However, Natalie’s fears cause a panic attack, but that panic attack draws Cam to her side and initiates the relationship that will lead to a romance.

“Sometimes being a Callow stunk, plain and simple.

I did not need to help everyone.

I didn’t.

Stupid heritage.”

In an example of nature versus nurture, Anna Kate’s upbringing with her nomadic mother left her with an aversion to establishing close connections with other people. However, her family history of helping and healing pushes Anna Kate to reach out to people she senses are in pain or trouble. Anna Kate’s desire to keep everyone at arm’s length is tested as the novel progresses, beginning with her budding relationship with her father’s sister, Natalie.

“Grief can change a person to the point where they become someone they don’t know, or even like very much. I don’t want that to happen to you. Or to Ollie.”

Doc’s words to Natalie when he asks her to see a grief counselor show that he appreciates the way grief impacted Natalie’s relationship with her mother during her childhood. Doc’s words also show that he sees the same thing happening to Natalie, continuing Webber’s comparison of the two women’s response to grief. Not only does this help build the theme of Grief and Guilt, but it also explores the relationships between Natalie and both her parents.

“My words died in my throat as she grabbed the molding on the shelving unit closest to the door and pulled. The floor-to-ceiling wooden shelf swung outward, revealing a secret room.”

Zee’s extreme measures to hide the secret ingredient in the pies show how important the connection between the mulberry tree and the blackbirds is. This secret is the first of several Anna Kate discovers throughout the novel, and it not only underscores the connection between the guardians and blackbirds, but also foreshadows the revelation of these other secrets, and Zee’s connection to helping Anna Kate uncover them.

“Seelie didn’t look like I had imagined, either. In my mind, she’d resembled an evil queen from a children’s fairy tale. Tall and high, sharp cheekbones, pointed chin, thin lips. Beady dark eyes, dark hair in a tight bun, long bloodred fingernails.

Seelie was none of those things. She was about my height, five-foot-seven, with white-blond hair that had cinnamon highlights. A heart-shaped face was aging gracefully. Her large blue eyes flew open when she spotted me, and then narrowed on the tractor I held, before lifting to meet my gaze once again, her hand went straight to a double strand of pearls, gripping them tightly.”

Like her first impression of Doc, Anna Kate’s impression of Seelie exposes the prejudice her mother’s experiences with these people created. She finds an ordinary woman who, like her mother, was been deeply scarred by grief at the loss of Anna Kate’s father. For Anna Kate, these differences between Eden’s opinion of the Lindens and the reality that Anna Kate experiences call into question Eden’s character and her honesty. Although Anna Kate never openly questions her mother’s culpability in the crash that killed AJ, these moments allow Anna Kate to question her mother’s motivations and apply what she learns to her mother’s motive in pushing Anna Kate to go to medical school.

“Actions reap consequences. You can spread the blame around, but it’s your vile behavior that has led us to this point. You know what you’ve done.”

Anna Kate’s words to Seelie define Seelie as the antagonist of the novel, a villain who wants to paint herself as a victim, but Anna Kate refuses to allow it. The Grief and Guilt of a sudden death such as AJ’s often causes survivors to search for someone to blame. Seelie and Eden blamed each other because they had no one else they could blame. This not only reveals how similar they were in both their grief and their love, but it clouds the truth of the accident and leaves everyone searching for answers in the wrong places.

“I’d been stifling thoughts of what would happen when I left Wicklow and trying not to worry about the blackbirds. What was going to happen to them?”

For the first few weeks, Anna Kate is determined to leave Wicklow at the end of her two months, but with less than a month left, she begins to think of the consequences of her departure. Anna Kate grew up moving from place to place, never making an impact on anyone or anything and never finding a place that felt like home. Within only a month in Wicklow, Anna Kate appreciates the impact her presence creates there and struggles with her promise to her mother that shackles her to a commitment to medical school that she doesn’t want to fulfill. This is the beginning of Anna Kate’s anagnorisis or her understanding of the true nature of her situation.

“In the daylight it was easy to see the blackbird’s light, mottled chest, her orange beak, and the thin pale green rings around her dark pupils—green being the original color of her eyes. It was a trait that hadn’t been noticed by the birders, but if they ever did spot the color, it was just one more oddity for Mr. Boyd to question.”

Another touch of magic in the novel, Anna Kate sees a blackbird that has eyes the same color as her mother’s eyes, leading her to believe this bird is an incarnation of her mother, Eden. This bird is personified in the fact that it acknowledges Anna Kate’s presence and attempts to lead her to a specific location, to Aubin Pavegeau in this case. This touches on the theme of Celtic Legends and Magic and is an example of a feature of the magical realism genre.

“Befores and afters.”

Before Mama had decided to reinvent herself, I would have walked out without answering. After her personality overhaul, I grabbed the phone, hoping that the new her hadn’t vanished. I kind of liked her.”

Natalie categorizes certain behaviors on her mother’s part as before AJ died and after. Now she sees a new set of before and after, the ones that came before Anna Kate arrived and Seelie began to change, and after. This not only illustrates the changes in Seelie where her grief gives way to hope, but it also shows a change in Natalie and Seelie’s relationship, an important aspect of Natalie’s character growth and Seelie’s redemption arc.

“‘To right a wrong, Anna Kate. To right a wrong.’

‘Has it been righted?’ I asked.

‘Not yet, but we’re workin’ on it,’ he said, grabbing a knife to cut potatoes.”

When questioned, Bow says this to Anna Kate, his explanation for why he and Jena, who consider themselves “gypsies,” remained in Wicklow for 25 years. This explanation is vague on the surface, but as the novel comes to its conclusion and Anna Kate learns the cause of AJ’s accident was a cat chasing a bird, this explanation begins to make sense. This comment is especially significant when connected to overheard conversations between Bow and Jena and advice given to Natalie, Summer, and Anna Kate, as well as Bow and Jena’s specific scars and injuries that never fully healed.

“Daddy had cancer. It was eating up his pancreas, affecting his liver function, and had spread to his lungs and his stomach.

He’d known for nearly six months now and hadn’t said a word. Not a single damned word. There were no treatment options left. No cure.”

Natalie’s struggle with grief eases until she learns of her father’s health issues. Anger and grief return when she learns what her father hid from her and send her back into the state of grief she was in when the novel began. However, Natalie has grown through her experiences in the novel, and she leverages her character growth to surmount this setback.

“A stab of pain brought me out of my thoughts, and I dropped the knife. I’d nicked my finger. Blood pooled along the tip, and I cringed at the sight of it, which was another reason I wasn’t much interested in conventional medicine. The sight of blood gave me the willies.”

At the beginning of the novel, Anna Kate maintains loyalty to her plans to go to medical school. However, during her time in Wicklow and through the development of relationships with the residents of the town and her father’s family, she makes connections that cause her to doubt her plans. This moment reveals that not only does the town influence her, but also that she always nursed doubts about her plan to become a doctor but hid them because she promised her mother. Anna Kate’s insight and character grow because she faces her doubts.

“He told me that Hill House and the carriage house belonged together, and to make that happen, no matter how long it takes.”

Gideon reveals the secret he kept from Anna Kate, the fact that his grandfather told him in a dream to unite Hill House and the café. This secret caused Gideon to cool his relationship with Anna Kate, which allowed her to miss him over time and admit her fondness for him. The secret also reveals another layer to Zee’s intentions for Anna Kate to remain in Wicklow for two months. Anna Kate realizes the will’s stipulation allowed her to get to know Gideon and possibly fulfill his grandfather’s wish.

“Gideon kept tight hold of my hand as we weaved around families and friends on their way to enjoy their night, while I ran toward home.

Home.”

Upon learning the café is on fire, Anna Kate rushes to see the damage. Her thoughts are erratic, but they are filled with one motive—to save the home she isn’t ready to give up. This is another thread of Anna Kate’s anagnorisis as she adjusts her view of her situation and makes the decision to remain in Wicklow rather than return to Boston for medical school.

“I reached for his hand, and he rested his palm on top of mine. ‘What is friendship, Mr. Pavegeau?’

He lifted up our joined hands. ‘I think it looks a lot like this, Anna Kate.’

‘I think so too.’

But to my eyes, it didn’t just look like friendship.

It also looked a whole lot like healing.”

After Aubin reveals his secret about AJ’s car accident, Anna Kate sees relief in his eyes and a change in his appearance. It is clear this secret weighed heavily on Aubin for 25 years, and Anna Kate sees that when he shares this secret, Aubin lets go of some of that weight. Healing is part of the guardians’ purpose, and Anna Kate follows through on that when she helps everyone hurt by her father’s death, including Aubin, to heal.