Terrific, there is no other word; long (736 pages) but it doesn’t feel it. In fact the book falls into two halves and at the end of the first you wonder why the second is needed … and then you discover. Book one: a Canadian air force base in the 60s, early on you learn of the murder of a child and read furiously, slightly unnerved, willing it not to be … well I won’t say. The children are particularly well realised, the atmosphere of hope laced with terrible secrets beautifully handled and by the time you reach the second part, set twenty years later, you are completely hooked. It’s riveting stuff.
| Primary Genre | Family Drama |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
For Madeleine McCarthy – high-spirited and eight years old – her family's posting to a quiet air force base near the Canadian-American border is at first welcome, secure as she is in the love of her beautiful mother, and unaware that her father, Jack, is caught up in his own web of secrets. The early 1960s – a time of optimism infused with the excitement of the space race but overshadowed with the menace of the Cold War – is filtered through a rich imagination as Madeleine draws us into her world.
But the base is host to some intriguing characters, including the unconventional Froelich family, and the odd Mr March whose power over the children is a secret burden that they carry. Then tragedy strikes, and a very local murder intersects with global forces, binding the participants together for life. As the tension in the McCarthy's household builds, Jack must decide where his loyalties lie, and Madeleine learns about the ambiguity of human morality – a lesson she will only begin to understand when she carries her quest for the truth, and the killer, into adulthood twenty years later.
THE WAY THE CROW FLIES is a novel that is as compelling as it is rich. With her unerring eye for the whimsical, the absurd and the quintessentially human, Ann-Marie MacDonald stunningly evokes the pain, confusion, and humour of childhood in a perilous adult world. THE WAY THE CROW FLIES is a work of great heart and soaring intelligence.
The Way the Crow Flies features in the following genres: Family Drama, Historical Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, Recommendations
The Way the Crow Flies is available in Paperback
The Way the Crow Flies was written by Ann-Marie MacDonald and published by Harper Collins
The Way the Crow Flies has 720 pages
