Silhouette of a Sparrow
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Growing up in the 1920s, sixteen-year-old Garnet Richardson watches the birds outside her window, admiring their freedom and beauty. Her mother, on the other hand, does not approve of Garnet climbing trees to peer into nests. She has Garnet’s life all planned out: after finishing high school, she’ll marry and tend to the home.
When Garnet is sent away for the summer to stay with relatives in the lakeside resort town of Excelsior, Minnesota, she discovers a chance to spread her wings. There she finds herself under the supervision of oppressive guardians and her father’s wealthy cousin. But an amusement park and roaring dance hall beckon, and her explorations land her where she least expects—enthralled with a beautiful and daring flapper, Isabella. Caught between her family’s expectations and her own newfound passions, Garnet must decide whose dreams to follow.
Tender and moving, Silhouette of a Sparrow is the tale of a young woman’s discovery of the science of risk, the art of rebellion, and, of course, the power of unexpected love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With a father haunted by his WWI service and a mother consumed with social standing, 16-year-old Garnet is eager to spend time with relatives in the resort town of Excelsior, Minn., during the summer of 1926. She soon settles into life with her snooty aunt and frosty 14-year-old cousin. Garnet is a bird lover who uses scissors to create silhouettes of the birds she sees (a "quaint Victorian pastime," as she puts it), but this interest masks her deeper passion for the study and protection of birds. Garnet accepts that her future is marriage, not college, at least until she meets Isabella, a dancer who shows Garnet how to follow her dreams and opens her eyes to unexpected romance. Garnet's sexual awakening is suffused with lightness and joy, and her familial and identity struggles will resonate with contemporary teens, although the ending is perhaps too neat. Picture book author Griffin's (Loon Baby) first novel for teens is laced with evocative period details that give readers a taste of what it was like to come of age during the flapper era. Ages 12 up.
