Before Women Had Wings

Before Women Had Wings by Fowler, Connie May. mass_market edition. ISBN: 9780804118903.

Starstruck by a dime-store picture of Jesus, Avocet Abigail "Bird" Jackson fancies herself "His girlfriend" and embarks upon a spiritual quest for salvation, even as the chaos of her home life plunges her into a stony silence. In stark and honest language, Bird tells the tragic tale of her father, a sweet-talking wanna-be country music star, tracks her older sisters perilous journey into womanhood, and witnesses her mother make a courageous and ultimately devastating decision. Yet most profound is Birds own story--her struggle to sift through the ashes of her parents lives, her meeting with Miss Zora, a healer whose prayers over the bones of winged creatures are meant to guide their souls to heaven, and her will to make sense of a world where fear is more plentiful than hope, retribution more valued than love. . . .