‘Girl Who Fell From the Sky’ a beautiful debut novel

It’s difficult to imagine enjoying a story about family violence, especially involving the deaths of small children, and at the hands of their own mother. It’s even more disturbing to discover the story is based on a true event.

Yet in "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky," first-time author Heidi Durrow has managed to write a compelling, sensitive novel, treating the subject of domestic abuse and both perpetrator and victims with grace and respect.

Rachel is the only survivor of a terrible tragedy played out on the rooftop of the apartment building where she lived with her mother and younger siblings. Durrow tells the story of her survival and the years following through Rachel’s own eyes, as well as through a neighbor boy who witnesses the family’s final moments.

Back and forth, from past to present, from young girl to young boy, Durrow paints a picture of a mother’s anxiety living in a world she can’t control or even comprehend.
 
As the child of a blond-haired blue-eyed Danish mother and black father, Rachel’s mulatto status is a thread that runs throughout the story. She struggles to find her identity, exploring the parallel worlds of black and white societies, reflecting much of Durrow’s own issues as a biracial child. As Rachel uncovers the truth about the tragedy, of which she has no memory, she comes to understand and accept her past.

"The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" is a story of violence told with tenderness, of love told with honesty, and ultimately, of forgiveness.

Jami Carpenter is a freelance editor for Stephens Press, former host of Vegas PBS Book Club talk show, and co-author of “Education in the Neon Shadow.”