"If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would
nominate Kelly Barnhill. "--Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award
finalist and author of Bone Gap
"A slim little novella that packs a narrative punch more intense than
that of many books ten times its length."--NPR
Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to
The Crane Husband, a raw, powerful story of love, sacrifice, and
family.
"Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have
daughters."
A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern
family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother
while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six
years, it's been just the three of them--her mom has brought home guests
at times, but none have ever stayed.
Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air,
the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her
heart, and her children's lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp
edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece
the crane demands.
In this stunning contemporary retelling of "The Crane Wife" by the
Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one
fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do
whatever it takes to protect her family--and change the story.
