by Margaret Verble
Overall: I love books set during the 1920s, so when I came across When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky, I immediately put it on my hold list. Set in Nashville’s Glendale Park Zoo, the novel is filled with characters from all different backgrounds (a Black zoo employee from a prominent family, a British veteran of World War I, an older white man haunted by the Civil War) orbiting around the main character, a young woman who goes by Two Feathers (her legal name is Nancy Benge). Two is a Cherokee from the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma who performs as a horse diver. When a terrible accident occurs during a dive, the motley crew around Two begins to cohere, with people finding commonalities that cross racial, ethnic, and religious lines. The author, Margaret Verble, who is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, clearly did a tremendous amount of historical research to craft this thoughtful and truly unique book.
Likes: I loved the characters – human, animal, and spirit. The sections narrated by the spirit character reminded me a bit of Lincoln in the Bardo. Two feels a kinship with many animals; her horse, Ocher, is her closest companion, but she also visits a buffalo who used to belong to Buffalo Bill Cody and the bears, who the Cherokee hold in high regard. Her grief over the loss of an animal will feel familiar to anyone who’s had to cope with the death of a four-legged family member. I loved the way the book used the characters’ memories and backgrounds to illuminate the complicated racial picture of 1920s Nashville. Finally, the setting is fascinating: an early amusement park built atop the desecrated tombs of a lost Indigenous civilization. Anyone who likes archaeology or history as much as me will be intrigued!
Dislikes: I wished some of the side plots had been resolved more completely. The characters aren’t all equally compelling; I would have loved more of some and less of others. If you’re looking for something fast-paced and with a lot of action, this might not be the book for you.
FYI: Murder. References to lynching, racial violence, genocide, and war. Death of animals.
Liz Helfrich 