When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett

Kieran Lucas is living untethered. Raised in foster homes, she’s finally connected to her “Granny Mac.” But Granny Mac is slipping into dementia. In her agitation, she relives her past when her mother was killed and the family lost their home in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If only Kieran could find the little stone bird Granny Mac says is buried on the old homestead. Park historian Zach Jensen is eager to help her unravel the mystery of Kieran’s family.

In the 1930s when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed, Rosie McCauley desperately tries to keep her family home, the only stability her sister Lorna knows. But the homestead is failing, and when the government offers her a lifelong lease, it seems like a solution to all her problems. But her decision puts her at odds with her neighbors, especially when she befriends a “furriner,” ornithologist Benton Fuller, who is fascinated by the owls on her property – and by Rosie.

As tensions rise in the mountains, the repercussions could last for generations.

Gorgeous storytelling, knit together with Karen Barnett‘s signature love of nature and national parks. When Stone Wings Fly is a touching and heart-wrenching story of family and love and of letting go. Rosie and Kieran and Granny Mac are compelling women trying to make it on their own in difficult circumstances and finding strength to do so. I have loved every single one of Karen Barnett’s books, but this one may be her best yet!