A review by debs4jc
The Feathered Bone by Julie Cantrell

4.0

This book tackles some dark subjects - human trafficking and suicide - and it does so in a moving and thoughtful way. So much so that when the suicide aspect was brought in I just about couldn't handle it, it seemed like to much tragedy to add to an already tragic story. I easily got wrapped up in the life of the main character - Amanda, who is the main narrator of the book. She is on a school field trip with her daughter Ellie and her daughter's best friend Sarah that the tragedies begin. Sarah disappears after a trip to the restroom and what begins as a frantic search turns into a nightmare as she remains missing for months. Even though Amanda is a social worker, she has trouble bearing up under the strain of feeling guilty, trying to help a daughter who has withdrawn into herself, and enduring the verbal abuse that her husband Carl flings at her. Those scenes where he abuses her were some of the really tough ones for me to read, by the way. She seemed to handle things pretty well otherwise but she sure had a blind spot when it came to her husband. I wanted to shake her and tell her to get out of that relationship! Amanda does have a lot of positives in her life - including her two best friends (one of whom is Sarah's mother), a best guy friend she's had since childhood (and yes, possible love interest later on), and her partner in her counseling practice. They all support her through thick and thin, even Sarah's mother. The parents of Sarah come off as pretty incredible people, by the way, not that they aren't hurting they just seem to really have a deep faith that helps them through the tragedy. Amanda has faith too, but hers is a lot more shaky. And she has a lot more trauma to deal with considering the way her husband treats her, leaves her, and then how things turn out with her daughter. That's when I just about wanted to stop but I wanted to see what would happen with Sarah. Sarah is heard from throughout the story in the form of diary entries that she writes to her sparrow - a bird she sees outside of her window that gives her hope. Those were really uplifting parts of the book, Sarah handles her captivity with a wisdom beyond her years and a faith that is amazing. The story does come around to a place with more joy and less darkness at the end, and we get to see Amanda reach out to her friends and to God in the end. This book really makes you think about some tough subjects and it does leave you with hope so I will say it's a great book on these tough topics. Just be aware that it's gong to be rough going and read it when you're in an emotional place where you can handle that.