Sugar Birds

“Bostrom’s voice reminds me of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing and Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” ―award-winning author Taryn R. Hutchison
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“Sugar Birds is a powerful coming-of-age story . . .woven into a testament to the wondrous natural world . . . packed into one heart-pounding read. Highly recommended!”
―Chanticleer Reviews
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“Suspenseful. Lyrical. Redemptive. Bostrom’s voice reminds me of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing and Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.”
―Taryn R. Hutchison, award-winning author of One Degree of Freedom
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“Sugar Birds is a tour de force, with protagonist Agate as uniquely powerful as The Hunger Games’s Katniss.”
―Dr. Lynne Curry, Anchorage Daily News columnist and author
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“Bostrom’s deft language, deep reverence for the natural world, and keen understanding of the human condition merge in this enduring novel of forgiveness and hope.”
―Ashley E. Sweeney, award-winning author of Answer Creek
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“A riveting, redemptive story! I couldn’t put it down.”
―Sy Garte, PhD; award-winning author of The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
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“Exquisite setting, unique characters, and a gripping plot . . . a page-turner that stays embedded in your soul.”
―Sara Easterly, award-winning author of Searching for Mom
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“Stirring, intelligent, and lyrical, Sugar Birds was so worth the wait.”
―Mona Stuart, author of Raising Children at Promise
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“Cheryl Bostrom’s hard-to-put-down Sugar Birds reminds me of the classic, My Side of the Mountain―one of those rare books that appeal to every age; full of depth, pages that turn quickly, and most of all, ebullient truth.”
―Katherine James, award-winning novelist; author of the memoir A Prayer for Orion
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“This novel illustrates truth I know in my bones―that there is a great mending for all of my life-gashes and deep aches. Sugar Birds is the best book I have read in ages, and is a book for all ages.”
―Donna Vandergriend, former chaplain; author of Out of the Mouths of Grandbabes
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“What an adventure! Cheryl Bostrom skillfully intertwines compelling storylines of two girls lost in wilderness of their own making―who find rescue and freedom through gifts of trust, healing of deep hurts, and forgiveness. It’s a book of hope restored.”
―Emily Polis Gibson, M.D. and poet, photographer, and essayist at Barnstorming.blog
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“Sugar Birds is in a class by itself . . .Bostrom is a writer of astonishing originality and talent.”
―Maggie Wallem Rowe, award-winning author of This Life We Share
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“Beautiful literary fiction with an absorbing, well-crafted plot and attention to the natural world that remind me of Peter Heller and Leif Enger.”
―Sarah Guerrero, author of Break Through
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"The Pacific Northwest's equivalent to Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing . . . just as good, if not better." —Janet Holm McHenry, best-selling author of PrayerWalk.

SUGAR BIRDS
—Kirkus Reviews

In this novel, the lives of two girls intersect in the woods of Washington state.
Ten-year-old Agate “Aggie” Hayes loves nothing more than climbing the massive fir trees that stand near her family’s home and sketching the bird nests she finds there. But her mother has instructed the girl to remain on the ground—climbing is too dangerous—and Aggie is wary of tempting her unstable parent’s anger. Sulking over a recent punishment, Aggie lights a small campfire that unintentionally torches the woods by her family’s cabin and burns it to the ground. Believing her parents dead in the blaze, Aggie flees into the wilderness, afraid of what might happen if she’s blamed for the crime. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Celia Burke is left by her father at her grandmother’s house for an indeterminate amount of time, far away from her friends back in Houston. She plans to skip town at the first opportunity, but when she hears of the fire at the Hayes home—and the fact that the daughter, Aggie, is missing—she can’t help but get invested. (Particularly after getting a peek at one of the other searchers, the handsome Cabot Dulcie.) As Aggie tries to stay alive and Celia attempts to find her, their stories become increasingly intertwined. Bostrom’s prose is propulsive and detailed, as here where Aggie cleans up after a scavenged lunch to avoid detection: “Rousing, she poured the rest of her seed into the bottle with the milk, pushed the waxy lid back into place, and scattered duff over her makeshift kitchen to erase it. No walkers or riders or dogs would stumble over her.” Aggie is a wonderfully magnetic character: a scrappy, stubborn preteen whose father has taught her to survive off the land. Celia balances out the tale with her suburban angst and sarcasm, but the supporting characters are equally strong, including the teenager’s bird biologist grandmother and Aggie’s autistic brother, Burnaby. The book contains an unexpected villain as well, who provides some added danger to the mix. While not always completely believable, the story is a true page-turner all the way to the end.

Our Verdict: GET IT