Synopses & Reviews
At 34, Scarlet Kavanagh has the kind of homecoming no child wishes, a visit back to family and dear friends for the gentle passing of her mother, Addie, a famous bird artist and an even more infamous environmental activist. Though Addie and her husband, ornithologist Tom Kavanagh, have made their life in southeastern Pennsylvania, Addie has chosen to die at the New Jersey home of her dearest friend, Cora. This is because the Kavanaghs ramshackle cottage is filled with too much history and because, in the last ten years or so, and for reasons that are not entirely clear, even bird song has seemed to make Addie angry, or sad, or both. Now, in their final moments together, Scarlet hopes to put to rest the last tensions that have marked their relationship.
Through tender conversations with Cora and Lou, another of Addies dear friends, Scarlet slowly comes to peace with her mothers complicated life. But can she do the same with her own? Scarlet has carried a secret into these foggy days - a secret for Addie, one that involves Cora, too.
In its structure and style this novel follows in the tradition of writers like Virginia Woolf, Harriet Doerr, and Carol Shields: musical and dramatic, with myriad stories and voices. But the evocative language of this soaring novel is Hinnefelds own.
Review
"One to look out for: a rare, delicate novel...You can't help but be caught up in the way Hinnefeld portrays their hunger for winged creatures, and for each other...lovely." Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book World
"Engaging, smart." The San Francisco Chronicle
Rich
interesting and intricate...highly original.”Dallas Morning News
[An] elegiac first novel
replete with plotlines, three dimensional characters, and multiple themes. That both makes it a candidate for multiple readings each time through you're likely to find something new to appreciate and a difficult book to review
a love story, or a tale about the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, or the choices cancer forces upon you. Others may see it as the story of longtime friendships between women, or the development of an eco-activist. In truth, Hinnefeld is writing about all of these things, and she weaves them together seamlessly, in prose that is both poetic and understated
Hinnefeld not only knows birds and their songs, she understands how relationships change, both subtly and overtly, how love matures, how daughters grow up, how mothers die, and how, in the end, the reality of change is all we have to hold on to.”Nancy Pearl, KUOW and Pearls Picks
A rich first novel about love, loss, and the fragile beauty of nature
Particularly notable for its engrossing details about bird life
moving.”Library Journal, starred review
A worthwhile read
Even if you dont normally read character dramas such as this, give it a shot. I was glad I did.”Birders Library
A reverence for motherhood and the environment pervades Hinnefelds quite sad novel, her first. That and the importance of finding a way to keep fighting from the grave.”The New York Times Book Review
Provocative and page-turning
Hinnefelds drama soars
.” Publishers Weekly
A compelling and mysterious novel.” Ursula Hegi
I loved Joyce Hinnefelds debut novel In Hovering Flight so much that Im at a loss for the right words to adequately portray it. How to describe this unusual novel that is part field notes of a radical environmentalist, part ornithology lecture (complete with beautiful Latin names for birds like Zenaida Macroura, more commonly known as Mourning Dove), part unconventional love story, and part confessional? In a wordbreathtaking.”The Internet Review of Books
Elegant and entrancing.”Feminist Review.org