Alice Hoffman has a gift for melding magic and realism in a way that makes nearly anything seem possible. As with her Green Angel, the author here explores themes of nature, rebirth and renewal.
After singing the praises of her mother's beauty, graceful movements and gift for baking, 12-year-old narrator Teresa "Twig" Fowler confesses, "The only thing I'm good at is running. And keeping secrets. I'm excellent at that. I've had lots of practice." Twig knows she's to accept no invitations and keep to herself. Even she doesn't know why her mother left New York City without Twig's father and returned to her hometown of Sidwell, Mass. Gradually, readers learn the source of the Fowlers' secrecy: Twig's nearly 17-year-old brother, James, has wings--thanks to a curse placed on their family 200 years ago by Agnes Gate, when Twig's "four-times-great-grandfather" stood her up on their wedding day. Ever since, all the males of the Fowler family have been born with wings.
But one day, the Hall family moves into Agnes Gate's abandoned cottage with a girl Twig's age named Julia, and a 16-year-old beauty named Agate. Attempting to get a closer look at the new neighbors, Twig falls from her favorite tree and the Halls rush her to the hospital. Even then, Twig avoids them--until Julia tells Twig she's seen her brother through the attic window, and so has her beautiful sister.
No simple star-crossed love story, Hoffman's novel layers on multiple meaningful connections and mysteries. Dr. Shelton comes to Sidwell to save the black saw-whet owls, whose habitat is threatened by possible development of the Sidwell woods. Mr. Rose, the new-to-town newspaper editor, wants to do "what's best for Sidwell." The town's "Gossip Group" attributes petty thefts to a "Sidwell monster," along with mild graffiti on the general store, the tourist center and elsewhere. Now bonded together, Twig and Julia set out to solve the mystery--before a full-on search starts in which Twig worries that her brother will be discovered and made scapegoat.
Hoffman's woods are a place of wonder and magic, where James takes flight, and Twig goes on adventures. The Pink apple orchard that supplies the sublime ingredient for Twig's mother's pies began with a gift from Johnny Appleseed. Where Twig's mother lives in fear and secrecy, Twig discovers peace of mind through openness and friendship, and a faith that she can reverse the curse and free her brother from his attic cage. Enchanting. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness
Shelf Talker: Consummate storyteller Alice Hoffman delivers a layered tale of fear and faith as 12-year-old Twig Fowler seeks to free her family from a centuries-old curse.