Inspired by a true story of a mother's twisted love, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky paints the haunting portrait of a young orphan's quest for truth. A bizarre mystery surrounding a family tragedy forms the centrepiece of Rachel's struggle as an astonishingly beautiful mixed-race child in a mostly black community. As terrible secrets begin to emerge, Rachel learns to swallow her grief and construct her self-image in a world that wants to see her as either Black or White.
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Heidi Durrow is a wonderfully gifted writer who can summon a voice, a memorable character with bold, swift strokes... a gem. --Jay Parini, author of Promised Land
When I first envisioned the Bellwether Prize, I imagined all the best qualities of fiction: vivid language, compelling characters, and clear moral vision. Novels just like this one, Heidi Durrow s breathless telling of a tale we ve never heard before. Haunting and lovely, pitch-perfect, this book could not be more timely. --Barbara Kingsolver, author The Poisonwood Bible and founder of the Bellwether Prize
A remarkable novel. It unfolds its secrets with the perfect placement of a mystery - I had trouble putting it down - while its core story about a mother's desperate act recalls the insights of a writer no less than Toni Morrison. Durrow writes fearlessly about race, memory, and family - she is a writer to watch. --Joan Silber, author of Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories (National Book Award Finalist)
When I first envisioned the Bellwether Prize, I imagined all the best qualities of fiction: vivid language, compelling characters, and clear moral vision. Novels just like this one, Heidi Durrow s breathless telling of a tale we ve never heard before. Haunting and lovely, pitch-perfect, this book could not be more timely. --Barbara Kingsolver, author The Poisonwood Bible and founder of the Bellwether Prize
A remarkable novel. It unfolds its secrets with the perfect placement of a mystery - I had trouble putting it down - while its core story about a mother's desperate act recalls the insights of a writer no less than Toni Morrison. Durrow writes fearlessly about race, memory, and family - she is a writer to watch. --Joan Silber, author of Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories (National Book Award Finalist)
About the Author
Heidi W. Durrow s writing has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Literary Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Callaloo, Poem/Memoir/Story, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Essence magazine, and Newsday.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rachel, a young biracial girl, experiences a horrendous family tragedy in Chicago, then goes to live with her grandmother in Oregon. It's hard to be the new girl in class and to make sense of her past. As she grows into her teenage years, she discovers boys and struggles with her emotions. The story also follows Brick, a boy who witnessed Rachel's trauma, and we see how that day affected his life.
This is quite a wonderful and unique book. Each chapter focuses on an important character's point of view; Rachel's chapters are told in her innocent, honest voice. She accepts her heartbreaking experiences as normal and our hearts break for her. The author's technique of telling us only tiny bits of information at a time makes the book a real page-turner that is impossible to put down.
I felt so protective of Rachel and Brick and loved their story. The author has created unforgettable characters and a storyline that gives you a lot to think about. Highly recommended.
This is quite a wonderful and unique book. Each chapter focuses on an important character's point of view; Rachel's chapters are told in her innocent, honest voice. She accepts her heartbreaking experiences as normal and our hearts break for her. The author's technique of telling us only tiny bits of information at a time makes the book a real page-turner that is impossible to put down.
I felt so protective of Rachel and Brick and loved their story. The author has created unforgettable characters and a storyline that gives you a lot to think about. Highly recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By RParks
Format:Hardcover
Having an interest in American literature and also being mixed race one could say that this book was written with me in mind. Perhaps this allowed me to relate to Rachel's story that little bit more than others. However, i cannot imagine that anyone with an appreciation for literature could finish the last line of this outstanding novel and feel cheated out of the hours it took them to read it. It is an intriguing insight into the mind of a child growing up among prejudice and having to carry the horror of a truly harrowing experience. The way in which Heidi W Durrow reveals this is complex and very well written.
An excellent read and well worth a 5* review.
An excellent read and well worth a 5* review.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
There are two books with the same name and you sent the wrong one. This book is not at all the type I want to read.
Format:Paperback
Rachel is the new girl. Rachel is biracial and is living with her Grandmother after a terrible tragedy back in Chicago, of which Rachel was the only survivor. The author, Heidi Durrow is the daughter of a Danish mother and an African-American father, just like Rachel, and it is clear that she has drawn expertly from her own experiences when writing Rachel's story.
Set in the 1980s, and with a theme of racial identity, this is an intelligently written and very moving story. Chapters are narrated by various voices, those of Rachel herself; Brick - a young boy who witnessed the tragedy, Roger - Rachel's estranged Father, and Laronne - the employer of Rachel's mother. Also interspered throughout the book are parts of Nella's (Rachel's mother) diary. These different voices and the writings of Nella give different views and reasons for the terrible event that happened that day in Chicago - when a Mother and her three young children fell from the roof of a multi-storied building.
For the first time in her life, eleven-year old Rachel realises that she is either 'black' or 'white', she finds herself under intense scrutiny from the people in her Grandmother's community, almost an oddity, with her mocha coloured skin and her clear blue eyes. Rachel also has a strength of character and a level of intelligence that could almost be viewed as a hardness by others, she has to deal with her own coming-of-age alongside the pain of losing her family and trying to deal with who and what she is.
Rachel and Brick are amazing characters. Brick (aka Jamie) lived below Rachel and her family in the aparment block in Chicago. He is a quiet boy, neglected by his drug-addicted mother and abused by her many visitors.... Read more ›
Set in the 1980s, and with a theme of racial identity, this is an intelligently written and very moving story. Chapters are narrated by various voices, those of Rachel herself; Brick - a young boy who witnessed the tragedy, Roger - Rachel's estranged Father, and Laronne - the employer of Rachel's mother. Also interspered throughout the book are parts of Nella's (Rachel's mother) diary. These different voices and the writings of Nella give different views and reasons for the terrible event that happened that day in Chicago - when a Mother and her three young children fell from the roof of a multi-storied building.
For the first time in her life, eleven-year old Rachel realises that she is either 'black' or 'white', she finds herself under intense scrutiny from the people in her Grandmother's community, almost an oddity, with her mocha coloured skin and her clear blue eyes. Rachel also has a strength of character and a level of intelligence that could almost be viewed as a hardness by others, she has to deal with her own coming-of-age alongside the pain of losing her family and trying to deal with who and what she is.
Rachel and Brick are amazing characters. Brick (aka Jamie) lived below Rachel and her family in the aparment block in Chicago. He is a quiet boy, neglected by his drug-addicted mother and abused by her many visitors.... Read more ›
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Lady Black
Format:Paperback
This is a unique narrative about Rachel, a young girl who was brought up by her Danish mother and Black father - however, they forgot (or chose not) to tell her that she is bi-racial. After a trauma, the girl goes to live with her Black grand mother. She struggles with the trauma that forces her to live with her grandmother and settling into a new life. The problem is, she has never seen herself as Black, but living with her grandmother, she grapples with the label of being seen as Black. At times, she seems to look down on 'black' things because they are unfamiliar to her.
This is a story of the complications of losing one's parents and really not understanding your identity and origins. She wants to be something she was before the trauma - but the world she lives in sees her as completely different.
I haven't read a book that deals with identity crisis in this way so would recommend it! It also interweaves the stories of other characters into the narrative which adds to the novel.
This is a story of the complications of losing one's parents and really not understanding your identity and origins. She wants to be something she was before the trauma - but the world she lives in sees her as completely different.
I haven't read a book that deals with identity crisis in this way so would recommend it! It also interweaves the stories of other characters into the narrative which adds to the novel.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By pauline
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was a book that I would not have read in the normal way,but I'm very happy that I have.
The story is both very sad and very vulnerable, you really get to know the characters and can relate to them well.I read the book quiet quickly as it flows so well and passed it to my sister who like me had a hard job to put it down.
The story is both very sad and very vulnerable, you really get to know the characters and can relate to them well.I read the book quiet quickly as it flows so well and passed it to my sister who like me had a hard job to put it down.
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