Flight of a Starling

December 21, 2018

Gr 9 Up-This novel about a circus family in the U.K. deals with betrayal and loyalty and the harsh, yet often rewarding, aspects of circus life. Lo and Rita have only known the circus because their family has been involved for generations. Rita is content with their traveling lifestyle and the daring tricks that they play under the round top, but her sister Lo wonders what it would be like to settle down. It's understood that romantic relationships stay within the bounds of the circus, and Rita has an on-again, off-again crush within their tight-knit group. When Lo meets a "flattie" named Dean, she begins a forbidden romance that threatens to endanger their lifestyle. Lo is also carrying around the secret of her mother's infidelity, and though she can scarcely handle all of her new pressures, she is legitimately happy with Dean. The sisterly relationship is portrayed effectively and the chapters change viewpoints between the two girls. Emotions in the novel are ultra heightened, but all of the characters are realistically rendered. The tragic ending is foretold from the very beginning, although that doesn't make it any less impactful when everything finally unravels. VERDICT A solid purchase; give this to fans of Jennifer Niven and Stephanie Garber.-Gretchen Hardin, Sterling Municipal Library, Baytown, TX

Starred review from November 15, 2018
As a feathered and sequined changeling, Lo holds circus audiences spellbound, forgetting that for those who venture outside the big top, there is no safety net.Sheltered in their vans, protected by tradition, sisters Lo and Rita journey through the countryside in modern-day England, performing increasingly dangerous trapeze feats and drawing crowds to their circus tent. The secure world of the showman travelers hinges on isolation from "flatties," devotion to kin, and a steadfast commitment to a wandering way of life that is generations old. However, the tightknit circus community unravels when Lo falls in love with a boy from the outside and family secrets can no longer remain hidden. Lo's tragic end is apparent in the opening pages, but alternating chapters told in the first-person voices of the sisters unveil the events that bring about her ultimate fall. With delicate language, Heathfield (Paper Butterflies, 2017, etc.) parallels the illusions that create circus magic with hints at sexual identity, a mother's betrayal, and a grandfather's grief, tenderly painting a world clinging to its storied past. Prejudices on both sides of the big top add another thoughtful layer to this gem of a novel, one that is sure to be savored. Characters readers will miss long after the book is closed combine tender innocence and fierce loyalty. Limited physical descriptions make ethnicities difficult to determine.Like a beautiful starling, Lo is too fragile on her own for the harsh life of the flat world. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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December 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 Sisters Rita and Lo have spent their lives with their family's circus, performing acrobatic tricks on the trapeze and traveling from town to town in a close-knit group. The circus performers are insular, rejecting any connections with "flatties," as they call nonperformers, and Rita and Lo have always been each other's closest confidants. But when Lo stumbles upon a devastating family secret, she finds herself withdrawing; at the same time, she begins a heady relationship with a flattie boy named Dean. Both things draw her away from Rita and the circus, and the more isolated she becomes from her family, the faster she hurtles toward tragedy. With its large cast and split narrative, this is disjointed at times, and the motivations of some characters are murky, but Heathfield, who was nominated for a British Carnegie Medal for Paper Butterflies (2017) has crafted a slim, precise story that is undeniably affecting. A lingering piece on family, sisterhood, and the cost of secrets.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)