This week, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt releases “When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky,” a remarkably fresh, beautifully written novel about a young Cherokee woman who swoops off a platform into water below, while riding a horse. It’s the Wild West performer’s star performance, until the night something goes wrong during her act.
Author Margaret Verble, an enrolled member of the Cherokee tribe, skillfully weaves Indigenous people’s spirituality through a story set in 1920s Nashville, then mired in racial prejudice. As Two Feathers is recovering from injuries and the loss of her horse in a catastrophic fall, she perceives an ancient spiritual protector hovering around her. She intuits that he is a warrior from many generations before.
When someone begins killing animals in the nearby zoo, Little Elk chooses to help ferret out and punish the killer. Despite the obvious limitations of his ghostly nature, Little Elk joins the search for whoever is killing the animals, joined by more mobile friends from Two Feathers’ life.
The fascinating world of zoo life and circuses surrounds Two Feathers. A darker theme of racial relationships does not take over the story but continually affects the lives of Two Feathers and a Black friend, Crawford. To be anything other than white in the era is to be controlled by expectations about one’s ethnic being.
This is a substantial book, hard to put down.
The author grew up in the general area of the novel and incorporated various historical facts into her story. It has the feel of history alongside an engaging story. Verble’s first novel, “Maud’s Line,” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Her next, “Cherokee America,” became a New York Times Notable Book.
Recommendations
While we’re on the subject of history, reader Charles Innis of Paxton has recommended “The Gun of John Moses Browning” by Nathan Gorenstein. “It’s a well-rounded picture of the man, his inventing, and his life,” Innis said. “It combines biography, history and the thought processes of the inventor of sporting and military firearms which changed the world.”
Events
•Author Michael Tougias will be in Plainville at 7 p.m., Oct. 20. His new book is “The Waters Between Us,” a look at the real meaning of hero, and two individuals given that moniker. Tougias has profiled many heroes, especially in the military, over the course of 33 books. In this one, however, he looks at a couple of closer-to-home heroes — one a Chatham seaman who helped rescue 32 men from a capsized tanker, and the other, his father, who for 31 years has cared for Tougias’s sister, who was left paralyzed and brain damaged by a drunk driver. The author is asking what makes a real hero, what goes into the formula for an individual who surpasses mere bravery.
He will speak at Jeff Kinney’s bookstore, An Unlikely Story. He will also discuss a children’s book, “Claws,” his seventh children’s book in the True Rescue Series. “I never planned to write for children but the books have won Junior Library Guild Awards and were Scholastic selections,” he said.
•Elisabeth Rosenberg, author of “Before the Flood,” will be a guest at 7 p.m., Oct. 19, at Tidepool Bookshop, 372 Chandler St., Worcester. Subtitled “Destruction, Community and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin,” the book is a history of Swift River Valley and the reservoir’s origins. The author examines both the socioeconomic and psychological aspects of the valley’s destruction, which enveloped several towns. Find out more about the book or register for the session (limited to 25 persons) by checking the store’s website, www.tidepoolbookshop.com.
Hilary Crowley will attend an in-store discussion at the Tidepool at 5:30 p.m., Oct. 27. Crowley is author of “The Power of Energy Medicine: Your Natural Prescription for Resilient Health.” She talks about how bodies have the power to heal once one has knowledge of accessing vital energy for prevention and recovery from pain. Crowley is resident energy healer at a general family medical center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She sheds light on questions surrounding energy medicine by sharing stories from cases including cancer battles, suicide attempts and chronic pain. Also limited to 25 participants. Check the store website for registration.
Upcoming meetings
Members of O’Connor’s Books, Brews & Banter Reading Group will meet at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at O’Connor’s Restaurant and Bar, 1160 West Boylston St., Worcester. Topic for discussion is “Downeast: 5 Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America.” The author, Gigi Georges, follows five girls as they come of age in geographically isolated areas of the Eastern seaboard.
Lancaster’s Off-Track Bookies will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 to discuss “The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees. It’s a memoir by Meredith May, raised by her grandparents and introduced to the mysterious world of honeybees by her beekeeper grandfather. Dropped into their world at the age of 5, the author found acceptance and learning from her grandfather, who taught her the magic and wisdom of nature. She learned about family and community, loyalty and survival on her grandpa’s honey bus, coming to understand the relationship between a mother and her child.
The NOW Book Group has slated a 6 p.m. Oct. 11 meeting for its next book, “All the Light We Cannot See,” by Anthony Doerr. Location is expected to be at the Nu Kitchen, formerly Nu Cafe, 335 Chandler St.
Send news of meetings or book-related comments to ann.frantz@gmail.com. Read It and Reap is published the second and last Sunday of each month.
