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By Leslye WaltonIn this award winning novel, Ava Lavender’s family has a history of tragic love stories. Her great-grandmother, Maman; grandmother, Emilienne; and mother, Viviane’s stories are all told through this multi-generational saga of love and love lost. A bad track record of foolish love does not forecast a hopeful future for Ava, and is further complicated by that fact that she was inexplicably born with a full-size pair of non-functioning wings. Is she a monster, a bird, or something else entirely? Her twin brother Henry is mute, highly sensitive and suffers from what is likely an undiagnosed form of autism. The siblings have a challenging road ahead of them, to be sure. Following a childhood of isolation, sixteen-year old Ava is struggling to make sense of her family’s strange history and to find her place in the world. Driven by a desire to fit in, she ventures outside, doing her best to hide the wings she was born with. Her naivety is both her charm and her curse. Some will accept her, some will not…and then there are people like Nathaniel Sorrows. An evangelical preacher new to town, Nathaniel mistakes Ava for an angel and his obsession with her grows quickly and dangerously. This story is magical realism at its best – disappearing people, ghosts, prophecy and birds are woven together by a magical thread that never feels illogical or out of place. Darker themes such as sexual abuse, depression, murder and betrayal make this better suited to mature readers. It is stunning, strange and certainly beautiful.Find it here! You may also enjoy: Midwinterblood; Bone Gap; The Walls Around Us