Happy Friday! For this week’s First Line Friday, I’m sharing the first line from The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner.

“No matter how the world has changed over the course of my life, somehow crayons still smell the way they did when I was a kid.

The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

The Basics

Title: The Nature of Small Birds

Author: Susie Finkbeiner

Publication Date: July 6, 2021

Genre: Split-time historical/contemporary

My Rating: 4 Stars

From the Back Cover: In 1975, three thousand children were airlifted out of Saigon to be adopted into Western homes. When Mindy, one of those children, announces her plans to return to Vietnam to find her birth mother, her loving adopted family is suddenly thrown back to the events surrounding her unconventional arrival in their lives.

Though her father supports Mindy’s desire to meet her family of origin, he struggles privately with an unsettling fear that he’ll lose the daughter he’s poured his heart into. Mindy’s mother undergoes the emotional rollercoaster inherent in the adoption of a child from a war-torn country, discovering the joy hidden amid the difficulties. And Mindy’s sister helps her sort through relics that whisper of the effect the trauma of war has had on their family–but also speak of the beauty of overcoming.

Told through three strong voices in three compelling timelines, The Nature of Small Birds is a hopeful story that explores the meaning of family far beyond genetic code.

My Thoughts

The Nature of Small Birds is a beautiful split-time novel that tells the story of how the Matthews family came to be. I love the way Mindy’s story is told from three different perspectives – her mom Linda in 1975, her sister Sonny in 1988, and her dad Bruce in 2013. All three years were pivotal times in Mindy’s life, and each part of the story provides layers of richness and depth. We see how Mindy’s life had such an impact on each member of her family, and how her arrival was the catalyst to them becoming a family marked by sacrificial love and forgiveness. The story is character-driven and reflective, moving at a slow pace that allows time for its wisdom to be absorbed. I really enjoyed this book, and I think fans of Lauren K. Denton and Valerie Fraser Luesse will as well!

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Revell!