Odd & True by Cat Winters
Published by Abrams
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Cryptids, Historical Fantasy, Historical Mystery, Miscellaneous History, Magical Realism, Paranormal, Mobility Aids, Physical Disabilities, Supernatural
My Rating:
Published on: 5th March 2019
Pages: 368
Disability Representation: Chronic Pain, Leg Brace, Physical Disability, Polio, Wheelchair User
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Trudchen grew up hearing Odette's stories of a monster slaying and a magician's curse. But now that Tru's older, she's starting to wonder if her older sister's tales were just comforting lies, especially because there's nothing fantastic about her own life--permanently injured and in constant pain from a childhood illness. In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it's Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters' search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that's wreaking havoc in the mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister--despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances--might indeed have magic after all.

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Odd & True by Cat Winters was not at all what I expected, and I’ll be frank, I was quite disappointed with the plot as a whole. This book is listed as fantasy, supernatural and paranormal; however, I personally would put it more in the magical realism category. I spent the majority of the book wondering if I had been fleeced; if there was actually going to be any real magic or paranormal creatures in it. Without giving too much away, I can confirm that yes, this book does actually exist in the realm of fantasy. However, if you’re like me and prefer your fantasy and paranormal novels to be chock-full of those things, then you’re going to be disappointed like I was.

Odd & True is essentially a story about two sisters, family and the stories we tell ourselves and are told to keep the monsters of reality at bay. It is very well written, it’s just not personally my cup of tea. From a disability representation perspective, it’s very good. Trudchen, aka Tru, became ill with Polio as a child, and as a result, her right leg grew at a different rate. This resulted in a discrepancy between her two limbs of two and a half inches. With the aid of a brace and a shoe with a taller heel, she can walk short distances. Walking is painful for Tru as moving her right leg requires a great deal of force, which aggravates her joints, especially her hip.

Throughout Odd & True, Winters never forgets that Tru is always conscious of how she has to move and the pain that accompanies it. As someone with chronic pain, I tend to notice when authors write about chronic pain and then forget about it for the little things, only remembering it when something big happens (for example, getting out of a carriage). There is one scene in particular where Tru has to walk on snow, and I appreciated how Winters took the time to describe how awkward it was for Tru to walk on a completely different surface. A lot of people don’t realise that surface texture makes a huge difference for those of us with physical disabilities that affect our lower limbs.

Likewise, Winters takes on the issue of how people perceive Tru, which in 1909 is completely wrapped up in her identity as a woman as well. Intersectionality is a huge part of the disabled community, and so often it gets completely ignored.

While I wasn’t a big fan of the plot, from a disability perspective, Odd & True is a great read.

About Cat Winters

Cat Winters is an award-winning, critically acclaimed author of ghostly historical novels for teens and adults and a picture book biography for children. She is also a poet, a playwright, and a co-leader of the Oregon chapter of Authors Against Book Bans. She has been named a Morris Award finalist, a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and an Oregon Spirit Book Award winner, and her young adult novels have appeared on Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist best-of-the-year lists, as well as numerous state lists.

Her debut picture book, Cut!: How Lotte Reiniger and a Pair of Scissors Revolutionized Animation, written as C.E. Winters, illustrated by Matt Schu, was a 2024 Oregon Book Awards finalist and a 2024 Oregon Spirit Book Award honor book. Bank Street named the picture book to their 2024 Best Children's Books of the Year list, where it was noted for Outstanding Merit.

Her poems have appeared in the young adult poetry anthology You're Never Too Much: Poems for Every Emotion, edited by Charlie Castelletti, and Door Is a Jar Literary Magazine.

HART Theatre in Hillsboro, Oregon, will produce her debut play, Don't Cry for the Wolves, in April 2026.

Winters lives in the U.S., in the beautiful state of Oregon.

Website | Goodreads

Thank you for reading my book review for Odd & True by Cat Winters!

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