Books I've Read: Postcards for a Songbird

This is a beautifully written book full of unusual descriptions.  It's also one of those quiet books that takes some time to get into, but is well worth it once you do.

It's summer and Wren is trying to figure out how to live without her vibrant older sister who has just disappeared,  Having been abandoned by their mother as young children, Lizzie and Wren have always been close.  Their father is a cop who, after his wife left, disappeared into night shifts and safe routines.

Lizzie, as described by Wren, is vibrant and full of life, the kind of person who fills a room just by stepping into it.  Wren has never needed to figure out her own personality because Lizzie's was big enough for both of them.  But with Lizzie gone, Wren has to figure things out for herself and find her own way to live her life.

This novel follows Wren as she does just that, helped by the mysteriously shadowy boy next door, her sister's best friend who is also trying to find herself, a vehement whole-foods advocate and the boy with a skateboard who just might be the key to changing everything.

The characters in this book are interesting.  The language is so beautiful, it's easy to imagine one or more characters are just figments of Wren's imagination - I think one is, but even now I'm not entirely sure, but I like that.  It makes Wren that little bit more interesting and powerful.  And as she begins to piece together the things that are important to her, the story slides into focus and brings us to a very satisfying conclusion.

I liked this one very much.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read it in advance.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Everyone eventually leaves Wren Plumley. First it was her mother, then her best friend, and then her sister. Now living with only her cop father and her upended dreams, Wren feels stranded, like a songbird falling in a storm.

When Wilder, a sickly housebound teen, moves in next door, Wren finally finds what she’s always wanted—a person who can’t leave. But a chance meeting with Luca, the talkative, crush-worthy boy in her driver’s ed class, has Wren wondering if maybe she’s too quick to push people away. Soon, Wren finds herself caught between the safety of a friendship and a love worth fighting for.

Wren starts to dream again. But when postcards begin arriving from her sister, Wren must ultimately confront why her mother left fourteen years before and why her sister followed in her footsteps. For her new life to take flight, Wren will have to reconcile the heartbreaking beauty of lost dreams and the beautiful heartbreak of her new reality.