Julie Cantrell

Dear Readers,

I have been waiting 2 years for Julie Cantrell’s book.  Finally, The Feathered Bone has arrived and I could hardly wait to get started.  I had to delay it because of other books I had already started, but it was on the top of the TBR pile.  This past weekend I picked it up to take along with me at a book table.  With book tables, they are usually very busy and you really don’t get much time to read, which is great as I am there to work, not read.  (I know, how annoying).  This one had a bit more down time to it and I had a chance to make great headway into the book.  Of course if I had known exactly what I was getting into, I might have waited and taken another book.

The Feathered Bone is the story of a missing pre-teen.  Sarah goes missing on a class trip in New Orleans.  Amanda leaves her daughter and Sarah waiting in line for the restroom.  When they do a head count, they realize Sarah is missing and there is no one who saw anything.  They only have a snap shot of what looks like a teenager leading a younger smaller person in costume out of the restaurant.  Otherwise she vanished into thin air. 

This is the story of Amanda and her family.  What happens when it is your responsibility to take care of someone else’s child and they go missing?  What happens to that family when that missing child is your child’s best friend?  There are so many threads to this book that I can’t even begin to cover them all.  When they talk about an issue-driven book, this one has that in spades.  In fact it almost became too overwhelming to continue.  I don’t dare list them all because it might scare you off from reading this book, but don’t let it.

This is one of those books that you will read and then want to share with those around you.  I am waiting to find someone who has read it so I have someone to talk to about it.  It is an emotionally exhausting book to read and yet it is a book of triumph.  It makes you wonder how anyone can survive what happens in life, and all the way through Julie reminds us that we are not making it through our valleys without the help of God. 

Happy Reading,