Book Spotlight: Flight of the Sparrow By Amy Belding Brown

FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW
A Novel of Early America

By: Amy Belding Brown

Published: July 1, 2014

Publisher: NAL Trade - Penguin Group

Fiction/Historical Fiction

Sadly, I can't get to every single book I want to read.  But, there are some books that sound so intriguing that I want to tell you about them right away. FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW reminds me of  the book CALEB'S CROSSING.  I love historical fiction that is based on real people and situations and I'm sure this is one I will enjoy reading as well.

She suspects that she has changed too much to ever fit easily into English society again. The wilderness has now become her home. She can interpret the cries of birds. She has seen vistas that have stolen away her breath. She has learned to live in a new, free way.... 

FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW is based on the true story of Mary Rowlandson.  Mary was captured by Indians during the late 1600's and held for weeks until she was ransomed.  This is a novel based on her little-known story.

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676: Even before Mary Rowlandson is captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the on-going bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.

Praise for FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW: 

"Brown's voice transforms a remote period into a fresh and immediate world, and in Mary, gives us a heroine who is broken by sorrow but determined to survive. This is a novel about the true meaning of faith and freedom."   - Kelly O'Connor McNees, author of THE ISLAND OF DOVES 

“A mesmerizing tale of survival and awakening…reminded me of CALEB'S CROSSING."

- Donna Thorland, Author of THE REBEL PIRATE

FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW comes with a reader's guide and would make an excellent choice for book clubs or for upper-level homeschooling.  If you would like to learn about the resilience and perseverance of a woman in the 1600's, please check out FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW.

Amy Belding Brown 

Amy Belding Brown, a graduate of Bates College, received her Master of Fine Arts degree in January 2002, from Vermont College of Norwich University. After living and working in central Massachusetts for nearly twenty years, she returned to her native Vermont in 2011, where she continues to write poetry and fiction. She is the author of FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW, an historical fiction novel set in the 1600's in New England and published by NAL/Penguin, and of MR. EMERSON'S WIFE, published by St. Martin’s Press in 2005 and now available in paperback. Her publication credits include Yankee, Good Housekeeping, American Way, The Worcester Review and other national, international, and regional magazines. She lives in Vermont with her husband and their dog, Angel. For more on Amy Belding Brown, visit her website, http://amybeldingbrown.com/.  You can also find her on Facebook, HERE, and Twitter, HERE. 

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