Where the Forest Meets the Stars
by Glendy Vanderah
Hardcover: 332 Pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (March 1, 2019)
In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again.
After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.
The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.
Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?
Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.
“Enchanting, insightful, and extraordinary.” —Novelgossip
“A heartwarming, magical story about love, loss, and finding family where you least expect it. This touching novel will remind readers of a modern-day The Snow Child.” —Christopher Meades, award-winning author of Hanna Who Fell from the Sky
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
As always, words fail when you most want to say the right thing…
I’ve decided language isn’t as advanced as we think it is. We’re still apes
trying to express our thoughts with grunts while most of what we want to
communicate stays locked in our brains.
He was teaching her how to play poker, and they were using oyster
crackers as betting chips. “First guns, now gambling,” Jo said. “You’re a bad
influence.” “Not for long,” he said. “We can’t stop eating our money.”
And I know what you’ve been through—how it could have …influenced
what you did.” Why did everyone think that? She kept her mouth shut, but she
wanted to say that she wouldn’t have done anything different if she still had
her mother and her breasts and her ovaries. She would love Ursa just as much.
Did she tell you she once snuck a lamb into the hospital? … She
knows I love the baby farm animals she works with, so she packs the lamb in her
car with its milk, drives up to Chicago, and sneaks it into my room two days
after my breasts were removed. She takes this tiny lamb out of a shoulder bag,
lays it on my bed, and hands me the bottle. There, she says, who needs tits
anyway? There are other ways to give milk.
Before his life fell apart, he’d wanted to be an astrophysicist.
He named his daughter Ursa for the Big Bear in the sky, and he’d taught her the
names of stars and constellations. When Ursa was afraid of the dark, he would
open her window a crack and tell her good magic that fell out of the stars was
coming in her window. He said the magic would always keep her safe. After he
died, Ursa opened her window wide every night, trying to let in lots of good
magic.
My Review:
This captivating book bewitched and enthralled me. I delighted in the unexpected and stealthy
hits of clever wit and levity that was surprisingly tucked into the most
unexpected places. I gleefully endured
the prickling and tauntingly enticing mystery that relentlessly beckoned to me
to continue reading and ignore anything and everything beyond the screen of my
Kindle.
Ms. Vanderah’s writing was alchemy and I was ensorcelled. I was repeatedly taken with the layered
depth of the fascinating and quirky characters as well as the thoughtful
creativity of the storylines, which were complex and beautifully textured with
cleverly amusing and cringe-worthy details.
I waffled in my theories of whether the girl’s fantastical
explanations and alien assertions could be true as she was oddly intelligent
and insightful, and far more advanced than many adults in her ability to absorb
knowledge or sketch, yet she was a small child with an estimated age of
nine. My curiosity was as unabating as
Ursa’s quarks. I reveled in this
stunning and cunningly crafted tale from beginning to end and was absolutely
staggered once aware it was the author’s debut. Glendy Vanderah is definitely one to watch. A Five-Stars rating is not enough by
half.
Empress DJ
About Glendy Vanderah
Glendy Vanderah worked as an endangered bird specialist in Illinois before she became a writer. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in rural Florida with as many birds, butterflies, and wildflowers as she can lure to her land. Where the Forest Meets the Stars is her debut novel.
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