The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
By Heidi W. Durrow
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010. 264 pgs. Fiction.

Rachel identifies herself as ‘the new girl’. She has just moved to Portland to live with her Grandmother and Aunt Loretta following a family tragedy atop a Chicago apartment building which she alone survived. Her childhood in Germany as the daughter of a black G.I. and a Danish mother did little to prepare her for race relations in the United States. Her bright blue eyes and dark skin bring attention, both admiring and hostile, as she enters her teenage years searching desperately to understand who she is and why she has been left so dreadfully alone.

This story is simply and powerfully told. Rachel is just one of several narrators who slowly unravel the events in Chicago. The true brilliance in Durrow’s writing is how deep the characters are developed despite the spare writing style. It is startling how issues of race, violence, guilt, grief, love, addiction, family, and redemption are all vividly explored. This is a truly amazing novel by a gifted new writer.

CZ