The Spirit of Cattail County by Victoria Piontek

Not in a depressing way either, that’s just how it is. The author did that amazing as well-I won’t spoil the ending, but the author still made it clear that the pain & grief was still there at the end of the story, & always would be. I loved joining Sparrow on her journey, & I loved the ending. The author handled that pain/grief in the most honest way, & I applaud her for that. The pain of losing a parent in indescribable, & different to any other kind of pain. It wasn’t a stressful kind of sad to read about-which I thought was done well, since losing a parent is one reason I don’t read stressful books anymore. You can feel the sorrow & despair in Sparrow deep down in your own bones as you read, after losing her mama. There are reasons she is the way she is, but she makes it hard to have any sympathy for her. Sparrow is to be raised by her Auntie Geraldine, her moms sister.

The small town life, the characters, & how much a family name can mean.along w/how important manners are drilled into you-loved it. This was southern down to its core, & I drank it up. She joins forces w/some unlikely allies-Maeve & Jonny, who are kids of the family outcasts(the town is broken into 3 different families), & also Elena, a traveling child fortune teller. But before the boy will help her, she has to help him w/something. She thinks if the boy can come back, then surely her mama can too. Her mama dies, but she has hope she’ll see her soon. She never knew her daddy, or even who he was.

She has a best friend that has been w/her for as long as she can remember-The Boy. Most of the kids in town think she is unusual. With its loving depiction of small town life, and characters who feel like old friends, this magical debut will enchant you, dazzle you. To solve the mystery, Sparrow joins forces with some unlikely allies - Maeve and Johnny, siblings from a family of town outcasts -and Elena, a visiting child fortune-teller. After all, if the Boy can linger after death, then surely Mama can return as well.īut the Boy has a secret of his own, one that Sparrow will need to uncover before the ghost will lead her to Mama. So when her mama passes away, Sparrow doesn't give up hope. Yet Sparrow is the only one who can see him. He makes her smile by playing pranks in church. Others think there's something 'unusual' about her.īut Sparrow's not lonely - she has a best friend who's always with her. Some kids believe her house near the swamp is haunted. This story is a treasure.’?Natalie Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of A Snicker of Magic ‘Wrapped in prose as mysterious and lovely as a southern breeze lies a story about loss that haunts, and the ghosts that help us heal.

The Spirit of Cattail County by Victoria Piontek