Heidi Durrow

Heidi Durrow

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The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, winner of The Bellwether Prize, has been gathering abundant critical praise. Rachel arrives at her Grandmother’s home in the Albina district of Portland after a family tragedy in Chicago. Haunted by her staggering loss, she is thrown into a new school where she stands apart, different from her classmates. Her Danish Mom handed down sky blue eyes and her Black GI Dad gave her soft, caramel colored skin. Rachel is unsure what defines her, the white heritage of her dead mother, or the black of her father. Are we so easily defined? Does the color of our skin really dictate who we are? Rachel will have to invent herself or accept the definitions society provides. As Rachel grapples with fitting into her new home, slowly the tragic circumstances of her move to Portland are revealed. The characters are interesting, the setting used well, and the issues raised are significant. This is a masterful novel, a compelling story about a family tragedy and a young girl’s search for cultural and racial identity. We are sometimes gifted with the chance to introduce you to a major new talent; this will be such an evening. Heidi Durrow’s writing is powerful.