The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

 It's the nature of small birds to sing their little hearts out. And it's the nature of God to hear them.~from The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

The Nature of Small Birds is a quiet, gentle book, the kind of read that is a comfort and a respite. Susie Finbeiner has created a family that is not always perfect, but is able to love perfectly. 

It is the story of 'hippie' couple Bruce and Linda and their three daughters Sonny, Mindy, and Holly. Readers meet the couple in 2013, in Bruce's voice, and in 1975 narrated by Linda, and in 1988 through Sonny's eyes. Each narrative voice is distinct.

Central to their story is Mindy, who Bruce and Linda adopted through Operation Baby Lift at the end of the Vietnam War. We know what she experienced by her early fearfulness, and we understand the love that surrounded her by her growth and happiness. 

Over 3,000 Vietnamese babies and children were brought to America. Some were left at orphanages because their family was unable to care for them; the parents never approved their removal. 

Adopting a Vietnamese child in 1975 created strong reactions in friends and family and even strangers. The pain of losing sons in the war was still raw and visceral. Bruce had lost a brother in the war, and his mother had a difficult time accepting Mindy.

Now grown, Mindy is exploring how to find her birth mother in Vietnam, supported by her family.

If all I've done with this one life is to be a son, husband, brother, dad, grandpa to these remarkable people, that's good enough for me.~from The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

My favorite voice was Bruce, whose reflections on life, family, and aging are beautiful. I also loved Linda's recollection of early motherhood, so like my own. Sonny's life in 1988, filled with malls and Cyndi Lauper and movies like 'Big', made me recall the world I knew when our son was born. 

The story is set in a Michigan 'Up North' setting, on the "pinkie knuckle" of Michigan.

I received an ARC from the publisher through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Nature of Small Birds

by Susie Finkbeiner

Revell 

paperback $15.99ISBN: 9780800739355

E-Book

ISBN: 9781493430468

Pub Date: July 6, 2021

from the publisher

In 1975, three thousand children were airlifted out of Saigon to be adopted into Western homes. When Mindy, one of those children, announces her plans to return to Vietnam to find her birth mother, her loving adopted family is suddenly thrown back to the events surrounding her unconventional arrival in their lives.

Though her father supports Mindy's desire to meet her family of origin, he struggles privately with an unsettling fear that he'll lose the daughter he's poured his heart into. Mindy's mother undergoes the emotional rollercoaster inherent in the adoption of a child from a war-torn country, discovering the joy hidden amid the difficulties. And Mindy's sister helps her sort through relics that whisper of the effect the trauma of war has had on their family--but also speak of the beauty of overcoming.

Told through three strong voices in three compelling timelines, The Nature of Small Birds is a hopeful story that explores the meaning of family far beyond genetic code.

About the author

Susie Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of All Manner of Things, which was selected as a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, and Stories That Bind Us, as well as A Cup of Dust, A Trail of Crumbs, and A Song of Home. She serves on the Fiction Readers Summit planning committee, volunteers her time at Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and speaks at retreats and women's events across the country. Susie and her husband have three children and live in West Michigan.

The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels

Peter reaches out to new girl in town Robin by giving her his deceased mother's books. As repayment, she writes him a poem about the book. Robin slowly allows Peter into her heart.

How can a book lover not love a story about books bonding people? Erin Bartel's novel The Words Between Us is filled with books--titles and authors, well-read dusty tomes and mass-market paperbacks--and conversations about books.

But, for Robin, books became an escape from the ugly truths of life, building a wall between her and the world.

"The shelf is filled with all but one of the books Peter had given me when I was a girl, each one a bottle containing some intoxicating fictitious liquor that promises to take me away from this incomprehensible chaos of real life and into a carefully plotted story.[...] Isn't there some literary cocktail that will help me escape?"~from The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels

At once point in her young life, Robin went so far as to stop talking, further constructing a protective shell. What drove a teenager to such extremes?

Robin's parents are both in prison and she cannot forgive them for abandoning her and cannot tolerate their crimes. Uprooted from her Amherst, MA, home to live with a grandmother in Michigan, she tries to rewrite her past with a new name and identity, lies that don't hold up. She is chained to her parent's legacy of notoriety.

Told in two timelines, the adult Robin watching her bookstore slide into bankruptcy and her backstory as a teenager, the novel explores themes of anger and forgiveness. There is romance and drama and friendship and threat and a reversal of everything Robin thought was true. Robin's foil is Sarah, a large-hearted girl who carries secret guilt under her party-girl persona.

The novel is set in a fictional small town on the Saginaw River in Michigan divided by a river. There is a journey that touches on all the Great Lakes, starting at Niagara Falls and ending on the sand dunes of Grand Marias on Lake Superior. The story concludes on Isle Royale, a National Park in Lake Superior. I loved all the Michigan mentions, including the Grand Rapids Art Prize and the carousel in the Van Andel Public Museum.

Grand Marias, MI on Lake Superior

I picked up on nods to Jane Austen. Robin's imagination concocts a wild story about Peter's father who later sends her out of his home--shades of Northanger Abbey! And there is Persuasion's wish-fulfillment hope for second chances.

Some aspects of the plot feel improbable, but most readers will be too involved with Robin to mind. The faith talk addresses a universal truth, and the romance is chaste.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Words Between Us. It will appeal to a wide audience of readers: those who like appealing characters struggling with difficulties, young adult fiction readers, women's fiction, Christian fiction, and who love the current trend of bookish characters.

Sunset on Lake Superior

The Words Between us is Erin Bartels sophomore book; her first book was We Hope For Better Things; read my review here.

"I know why some books live on forever while others struggle for breath, forgotten on shelves and in basements...they might have told rollicking good tales and sketched out characters who were fun to follow for four hundred pages, but they hadn't bled. They hadn't cut themselves open and given up a part of themselves...they hadn't lost anything in the writing."~from The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels

I received access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Find a reading group guide at
 http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-words-between-us/391430

The Words Between Us
by Erin Bartels
Revell
Available Now/Sept 2019
Paperback ISBN9780800734923
E-Book ISBN9781493419302
$15.99

We Hope for Better Things Erin Bartels

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels was a pleasant surprise for me. The novel is about three generations of women who live in Detroit and rural Lapeer, Michigan, spanning from the Civil War to the 1960s to today.

I found the novel to be engaging, with interesting storylines and settings, nicely paced, and with well-drawn and sympathetic characters. As a Christian novel, Bartels message is, "God has a plan." 

Elizabeth has lost her job at the Detroit Free Press.  She is asked to visit her great-aunt Nora to determine if she is the rightful owner of a camera and photographs in the possession of an African American family. With nothing holding her back, Elizabeth agrees and leaves Detroit for Lapeer.

Nora is confused and reclusive. Over time, Elizabeth pieces together a family history that involves the Underground Railroad, forbidden love, and the Detroit riot. 

I was interested in reading the book because of its setting. I grew up and now live in Metro Detroit and remember vividly the 1967 riot. Other connections include my husband's family roots in Lapeer and adjoining villages including a great-grandfather who married a Farnsworth, a name which appears in the novel.

20th c scrap quilt, African American, Detroit MI

A bonus for me was the quiltmaking that takes place! A 19th c. Crazy Quilt, a yellow hexagon quilt, and a contemporary crazy quilt are central to the story. I love that Nora is a fabric hoarder, her stash spilling out of the closet and filling dresser drawers!

Crazy Quilt

Piecing a life, piecing the mystery of the past, piecing things whole--the book's theme could be said to be the work of taking the worn scraps life hands you and creating something of beauty out of it.

A kaleidoscope of color, it was formed from varied patches of jewel-toned velvet and silk, each piece edged with multicolored embroidery thread in a hundred different patterns. from We Hope For Better Things by Erin Bartels

1903 Crazy Quilt

Crazy Quilt Detail

Historical fiction fans will enjoy the book. Women's fiction readers will respond to the challenges the women face. Plus, there is romance and heartbreak and hope. The story addresses racism throughout American history.

19th c Hexagon quilt owned by Diane Little

Learn more about what inspired the book at 

https://erinbartels.com/home/media/interviews-articles/

Bartel's amazing photographs of Michigan can be found at

https://erinbartels.com/home/photography/

Trip Around the World, late 20th c, African American, Detroit

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

We Hope for Better Things

by Erin Bartels

Revell

Publication January 1, 2019

ISBN: 9780800734916

PRICE: $15.99 (USD)

Detroit Motto: We Hope for Better Things, It Shall Rise From the Ashes

Missing Isaac: A Story of Family, Community and Faith

Missing Isaac is a vivid portrait of a community in the 1960s South, concentrating on the story of a boy growing up and learning about class, love, family, faith, and community.

In the opening scene Pete's father has died in an accident; his field hand Isaac tried to save him. Isaac befriends Pete; later he disappears.

I expected Isaac's story to be the main one, but instead it is placed on the back burner while we watch Pete grow up. Looking for Isaac, Pete meets a girl from an isolated family group who stay away from town folk. The children secretly meet, but when found out their parents cooperate to monitor the children's relationship, expecting that come puberty it will blossom into something more than friendship.

In the end, the mystery of missing Isaac is revealed. He did not fall victim to the KKK, but to something more insidious.

The novel is nostalgic and idyllic, showing the best of the community but also revealing the evil that hides behind careful facades.

I am not used to reading Christian books and the scenes in church worship seemed uneventful. The vilification of town youth culture and the division between the Hollow folk and town folk were definitely us vs them territory. Racism was barely lurking in the background, as Pete's family respect all people, regardless of color or class, as equals.

Pete and Dovey are too sweet and their long courtship is very respectful--but they marry ASAP.  I had friends who believed in courtship and whose children married too young; one was divorced within a year. The problem, of course, is that young adults want more than pristine kisses, lust into marriage, and discover they are not prepared for reality.

Still, for readers who want old-fashioned values and a story with no graphic violence, sex, profanity, this is a lovely book. It is what my mother-in-law wanted to read when she was in her 90s.

I received a free book from Bookish First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Missing Isaac
by Valerie Fraser Luesse
Revell
Feb 16 2018
ISBN: 9780800728786

Quilts of Love, a Series of Christian Romance Novels from Abington Press

I read Grand Design by Amber Stockton and Masterpiece Marriage by Gina Wellborn, my first foray into Christian romances or fiction.

Grand Design is set on Mackinaw Island at the Grand Hotel, which the author makes sure the reader knows was the setting for the cult classic film Somewhere in Time staring the late great Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour. Alyssa wins a honeymoon prize for two weeks at the Grand Hotel. She is single and pretty much afraid of men so she takes her best friend. Turns out she spent her childhood summers on the island with her grandmother who still lives there. But it has been 15 years since the 29 year old Alyssa has been back. Of course she meets the perfect guy (Scott) before she sets foot on the island. Both are shy, reluctant to try their hand at love again, and share mutual values. They have a definite physical attraction.

Quilting has little to do with the main story line and could have been left out without changing the book. Alyssa collects quilt blocks from Grandma's old quilt group and the blocks turn into a quilt. All this in two weeks.

I found the book lacking in suspense and formulaic. The main character's crisis could have been suspenseful with better handling. I had real problems with the love interest using violence to save Alyssa from a masher. There is no repercussion for his actions. And when Alyssa and Scott are accused of theft, their word alone is all it takes for the police to go after the man they accuse of the set up.

Religion has little active role other than the aunt takes the young folk to church. A young man realizes that church was not so bad. Mostly, the conservative attitude towards courtship is shown, not told, as Alyssa's love interest shows great restraint and respect towards her. For me, this book is for a young reader or an older person who dislikes to be ruffled.

Disappointed, but curious, I turned to the second novel.


Masterpiece Marriage is set in Philadelphia in 1871. Zenus is a textile mill owner who needs to save his business. He travels to his Virginia aunt to beg one of her quilt designs so he can manufacture quilt kits. The aunt has just arranged to help Mary, who is an aspiring botanist under a deadline to prepare her research on tomato plants for publication. Zenus and Mary both need auntie's help and want to get the other out of the way. Sparks fly. The sparks become attraction.

The aunt is a famous quilter and during the story women work on an embroidered crazy quilt. Again, quilting does not figure predominately in the story, but is a plot devise to get Zenus and Mary together.

They struggle with serendipitous events, wondering if coincidence or providence is behind life's happenings. Does God arrange specific events for specific people? But then life's pain would be God's handiwork, too, and a loving God would not do that. The balance falls in favor of divine providence.

I enjoyed the Philly references. Textile mills thrived across the city, including in Kensington, once home to thriving factories like Stetson Hat and Quaker Lace. We lived for a time not far from the empty Stetson Hat factory.Kensington was where America's first textile printing factory was built by John Hewitt. Read about him here and on Barbara Brackman's blog post here. Early American quilts used his textiles for Broderie perse quilts. Read about Kensington and Fishtown's mills here.

One of the empty factories in our neighborhood in 1979/80. 

http://hope4kensington.blogspot.com. Nothing much has changed since we lived in Kensington.

Zenus does show a rare concern for keeping his women mill workers employed so the children did not starve. Very commendable and Christian. he and Mary even think about some kind of support to help them, one indication that their marriage will be based on more than sex appeal.

Textile mills were horrible places. (http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/mono-regsafepart01.htm)
The noise of the machines, the heat and humidity, the lint in the air, the long hours (up to 14 hours a day), the monotonous work and limited breaks lead to accidents, disease and poor health. Children workers equaled the number of adult workers, and women predominated the workforce. Children under 12 were limited to 10 hours days in 1849; those over age 12 could work 12 hours a day or more. Pennsylvania tried to limit or end child labor, but it was not successfully banned until 1913. The state's first factory safety act was passed in 1889.

Mt Pisgha Church was off the main roads, amid rowhouses

In 1980 we knew an 99 year old Kensington lady who told of her mill working days. Her husband died when they were young and she went to work at a lace mill, which my husband recalls was near Erie Avenue. She arose before dawn to walk to the mill, put in a long day, walked home in the dark, had a dinner of cold potatoes, and went to bed.

She lived in a Father, Son and Holy Ghost house  consisting of three rooms on three levels. About 14 feet wide, with hardly 100 square feet a story they were built to cram as much living space in the city as possible for the vast number of workers needed for industry.

The Quilts of Love Series has many titles with diverse plots, from the Underground Railway to crime mysteries. These books were definitely romances in the secular sense, with physical attraction the basis of "love". I would like to see Christian romance give more attention to a deeper base for marriage, where values, empathy, and faith figure more predominately in the attraction.

Grand Design
Abingdon Press
Amber Stockton
Publication August 19, 2014
$13.99
ISBN:9781426773471

Masterpiece Marriage
Abingdon Press
Gina Wellborn
Publication December 16, 2014
ISBN:9781426773631