Skyward by Mary Alice Monroe
I love this author, whom I ran across on accident while looking for The Beach House by James Patterson (accidentally ordered the one by this author). I decided to read it anyway and I fell in love with her. I grew up in the low country of South Carolina and a lot of the authors that write about the area get it wrong. Mary Alice Monroe gets it right. She manages to make the area a character in the story, to represent the beauty as well as the harshness of the area.
This book beautifully captures the center of birds of prey. I will admit that I knew the center existed but not much about the birds or their plight. Not only do you learn something from her books, but you have quite a nice story to go along with it. The author has a knack of weaving the real life elements of the area into a fictional story without making it so obvious that you lose sight of the story.
This book was no different. It centers around a fictionalized Center of Birds of Prey and is about trust, love and redemption as well as letting go. A must read for Southern Fiction fans – or just those needing a good beach book.
Description:Mary Alice Monroe returns to the captivating and mystical South Carolina Lowcountry, a place of wild beauty and untamed hearts, to tell the moving story of healing, hope and new beginnings….
E.R. nurse Ella Majors has seen all the misery that she can handle. Burned-out and unsure of her next step, she accepts the temporary position as caregiver to Marion Henderson, a frightened five-year-old who suffers from juvenile diabetes.
But Ella soon realizes there is more sorrow in the isolated home than the little girl’s illness. Harris Henderson, a single father, is withdrawn, seemingly better able to deal with the wild birds he rehabilitates in his birds-of-prey sanctuary than with his own daughter.
Then something magical begins to happen: the timeless beauty of the South Carolina coast and the majestic grace of the wild birds weave a healing spell on the injured hearts at the sanctuary. But a troubled mother’s unexpected return will test the fragile bonds of trust and new love, and reveal the inherent risks and exhilarating beauty of flying free.
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