In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld
Fiction Hardcover
ISBN 13: 978-1-932961-58-4
6 x 9 / 288 pages / $24.95
September 16, 2008
Summary
At 34, Scarlet Kavanagh has the kind of homecoming no child wishes, a visit back to family and dear friends for the gentle passing of her mother, Addie, a famous bird artist and an even more infamous environmental activist. Though Addie and her husband, ornithologist Tom Kavanagh, have made their life in southeastern Pennsylvania, Addie has chosen to die at the New Jersey home of her dearest friend, Cora. This is because the Kavanagh's ramshackle cottage is filled with too much history and because, in the last ten years or so, and for reasons that are not entirely clear, even bird song has seemed to make Addie angry, or sad, or both. Now, in their final moments together, Scarlet hopes to put to rest the last tensions that have marked their relationship.
Through tender conversations with Cora and Lou, another of Addie's dear friends, Scarlet slowly comes to peace with her mother's complicated life. But she can do the same with her own? Scarlet has carried a secret into these foggy days-a secret for Addie, one that involves Cora, too.
In its structure and style this novel follows in the tradition of writers like Virginia Woolf, Harriet Doerr, and Carol Shields: musical and dramatic, with myriad stories and voices. But the evocative language of this soaring novel is Hinnefeld's own.
Praise
"The movement of this novel is frankly a miracle, but a natural one -- like the graceful flight of a bird, gliding along a path you couldn't trace if you tried. I can't imagine how the author conceived of this structure or had any idea where she was as she was creating it. But the more I read, the more impressed I became at her gently insistent exploration. This is a book so assured and confident that it gradually teaches you how to read it. Hinnefeld moves again and again through the lives of Tom, Addie and Scarlet, revisiting the same events, letting details slowly accrue, building our understanding of these characters and their complicated friendships. A certain degree of suspense builds up, but that's not really the point. In Hovering Flight is as quiet as twilight and just as lovely." —The Washington Post
"Alongside eloquent riffs on birds and the natural world, Hinnefeld has composed a pair of contained but rich coming-of-age stories..." —San Francisco Chronicle
"In this provocative and page-turning debut novel, Hinnefeld (Tell Me Everything and Other Stories) recounts the life of bird-lover, environmental activist and artist Addie Sturmer Kavanagh. . . Hinnefeld's drama soars. . . ” —Publishers Weekly
"More than just a family drama, In Hovering Flight is an examination of a life ruled by artistic passion.... It is a stirring novel about art and life and love that very quietly sweeps the reader along.... You know the Kavanaughs quite well be the last page and will be sad to let them go." —Bookslut
Joyce Hinnefeld "has written a novel that will hopefully create a devoted following of readers patiently awaiting her next excellent work." —NewPages
In Hovering Flight is "a story that is deep and believable." —Philadelphia Magazine
"In a world of minute messages and bare-bones dialogue, Hinnefeld’s lingering sentences give readers time to breathe, time to really enjoy reading – and the wonders of nature - again." —Curled Up With A Good Book
Joyce Hinnefeld "is a gifted and wise storyteller who-through many layers-reveals the core of each character. In Hovering Flight is a compelling and mysterious novel." —Ursula Hegi
"The writing is exceptional. Lyrical, rich in natural details, and with complex characters, In Hovering Flight is as beautiful and as life-affirming as a long sunet." —Fresh Ink Books
"I was blown away by [Joyce Hinnefeld's] writing and how beautiful her prose was. This book is a pretty impressive debut, and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future." —Booking Mama
"In Hovering Flight is a beautiful novel and absolutely tailor-made for indie booksellers. I encourage every independent bookseller to read In Hovering Flight and stack it high, for it is a handseller's dream." —Elizabeth Jordan, BookPeople (Austin, TX)
“In Hovering Flight was in enchanting read on numerous levels. The true birdwatcher/scholar/artist lives of the main characters taught and touched me. Expanding that theme into passion for and pain about nature and ecology worked beautifully. Add to that a variety of complex, realistic relationships and the result has stayed with me long after finishing the book. What a spectacular debut." —Dana Brigham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
"Joyce Hinnenfeld’s deeply felt novel resonated with me in a number of ways. Like Addie I am a mid-Atlantic girl, born and bred and I enjoyed the homage paid to Bucks Country, Pennsylvania and the New Jersey coast, lovely and humble places. Addie could be somebody from my life; I knew many people who veered from hope to anger in those years where the political process was unresponsive to their concerns. Finally, there is a familiar mother/daughter relationship, a tangle of love and unspoken but deeply felt expectations." —Carla Cohen, Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington D.C.
"My kind of book – great dialogue, interesting complicated characters, and who doesn’t like birds? I loved the pace of the novel which allowed me to breathe as I read, imaging watching birds in flight, feeling the changes in the seasons, delighting in new life." —Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ
"This story is as glorious and beautiful and fleeting as the birdsong that entrances the characters who inhabit it. I had to occasionally stop reading it so I could delay the inevitable last page and not have to say goodbye to these friends" —Micheal Fraser, Joseph Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH
"In lovely but precise language Joyce Hinnefeld slowly reveals the larger world and the more intimate landscapes within it. Both ornithology and bird-watching, both art and the artist at work, both the comfort of being together and the loneliness of choosing independence. The characters may be in conflict with each other, but they always have our sympathies. It is a remarkable debut and an unforgettable story." —Cheryl Upchurch, Capitol Book & News, Montgomery, AL
"A wonderful debut novel that is surprising in all the right ways. It's a love story, a celebration of the natural world, environmental statement, and a story of lifelong friendships. Though Barbara Kingsolver comes immediately to mind when looking for a comparison for Joyce Hinnefeld, I found that her voice was unique, and if you'll pardon the metaphor, as clear and bright as morning birdsong in early spring." —Cathy Langer, The Tattered Cover, Denver, CO
"Ethereal yet earthy, the characters will enchant you. I found myself enjoying the hours with Addie, quietly observing and listening—always listening. An excellent debut and sure to be a book club favorite." —Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX
"A multi-layered novel, elegant in its writing and in its paean to the natural world. I loved everything about it. You've got a winner." —Nancy Olson, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC
"I was deeply touched by this novel. It struck chords with its realistic portrayals of grief, love, friendships, and connection with nature. I look forward to recommending it, especially to nature lovers, mothers and daughters, and readers who savor emotionally true, significant novels." —Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Books, Seattle, WA
“It is easy to ask what you want from a first novel: everything; to be continually surprised by the writing; to feel as though the author understands you as well as he does his characters; to know that the experiences on paper have a grounding in experiences in life. Joyce Hinnefeld's novel wraps around the reader's expectations with a sense of Nature's calm before sunset; long before the quiet ending (that comes at you in a rush) the story has unfolded, unguarded, honestly, appropriately. . . . Reading In Hovering Flight is a rewarding break from this world of constant interruptions and of shallow interpretations of the hard work it takes to be truly alive, until the final moment (and beyond)." —Steve Shapiro, Rainy Day Books, Fairway, KS
"I fell immediately into the web of Joyce Hinnefeld's beautiful novel, In Hovering Flight. It is the kind of book that makes you feel as though you know the characters, that they are your friends or family. So much so that I found myself missing Addie and Scarlet and Tom long after I finished the book. I've already begun to talk about this book with customers and have many who can't wait to dive into Hinnefeld's amazing debut novel." —Elizabeth Jordan, BookPeople Bookstore, Austin, TX
"I just had to let you know that I can now die a complete and peaceful woman, (not that I am planning my demise anytime soon). I read In Hovering Flight and I have to agree that this book is a gem! As I read, I did not realize the personal journey I was taking. When the book ended, I was deeply moved in ways I could not imagine. Thanks for making sure I read it. I'm already talking it up! Can't wait to get it on the shelf!" —Arlene Lynes, Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock, IL
Bio
Joyce Hinnefeld is an Associate Professor of Writing at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. She is the author of a short story collection, Tell Me Everything and Other Stories (University Press of New England, 1998), which was awarded the 1997 Breadloaf Writer's Conference Bakeless Prize in fiction in 1997. In Hovering Flight is her first novel.
In Hovering Flight website
An Interview with Joyce Hinnefeld:
Photo: Armen Elliott
Excerpt
This morning's scene is a familiar one: Cora at the small table on the screened porch in back, glasses perched on her nose and paper spread in front of her, distractedly petting Lucy, her old collie, who's flopped down at her feet. For as long as Scarlet can remember Cora has been gray, her hair cut sensibly short. She’s also always been pretty. The sweetness and openness in her face and in her wide blue eyes have always somehow invited Scarlet to bare her soul, to share her deepest hurts and most ridiculous longings with Cora—though Cora will never, under any circumstances, do the same. If Cora has ridiculous longings, Scarlet hasn’t heard about them; she knows for certain about the depth of Cora’s particular pain—but she never hears about this from Cora either.
The two women are bundled in sweaters because it's cool on the porch in the early morning. Sunlight streams in, the early fog burned off by now, and the long, grassy slope down to the beach is wet with dew. A rope clangs against a flagpole several houses down. Tom has been at his scope for an hour or more; Scarlet has been watching him. She knows he'd rather be elsewhere—in the marsh near the lighthouse, for instance—but everyplace screams with Addie's presence now, and there is so much to be decided today. But for now no one can bear to begin that process, and Scarlet sits with Cora, as if it were a year or two ago and she’d just arrived, sleepless and distraught over her love life, whimpering over the mess she’d made of everything. Worlds away from everything she is feeling today.
. . .
As Cora bends over Lucy, Scarlet watches the play of morning light and shadows on her face, on the lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth. She knows this face nearly as well as she knew her mother’s, before Addie grew so gaunt, if still achingly beautiful, over the past few months, and she knows this comfortable old house nearly as well as she knows the cottage on Haupt Bridge Road. No wonder Addie wanted to die here, she thinks now, with Cora’s soothing presence filling every room—the smells of her baking, the fresh salt air blowing through her windows, the dark glazed surfaces of her pots and vases and mugs, beckoning one to grasp and stroke.
And for a moment she is ashamed of her peevish reaction to Addie’s asking to be brought here, six weeks ago. “Why not at home?” she’d whined to Tom. At the time she’d felt strangely jealous, reluctant to share both her dying mother and Cora in this way.