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    Silhouette of a Sparrow
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    Silhouette of a Sparrow
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    Silhouette of a Sparrow
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    Silhouette of a Sparrow

    By Molly Beth Griffin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Growing up in the 1920s, sixteen-year-old Garnet Richardson watches the birds outside her window, admiring their freedom and beauty. Her mother, on the other hand, does not approve of Garnet climbing trees to peer into nests. She has Garnet’s life all planned out: after finishing high school, she’ll marry and tend to the home.

    When Garnet is sent away for the summer to stay with relatives in the lakeside resort town of Excelsior, Minnesota, she discovers a chance to spread her wings. There she finds herself under the supervision of oppressive guardians and her father’s wealthy cousin. But an amusement park and roaring dance hall beckon, and her explorations land her where she least expects—enthralled with a beautiful and daring flapper, Isabella. Caught between her family’s expectations and her own newfound passions, Garnet must decide whose dreams to follow.

    Tender and moving, Silhouette of a Sparrow is the tale of a young woman’s discovery of the science of risk, the art of rebellion, and, of course, the power of unexpected love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMilkweed Editions
    Release dateSep 4, 2012
    ISBN9781571318619
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Silhouette of a Sparrow

    4/5

    6 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I borrowed this book from the library, but I think I would like to own a copy. It was published in 2012, but took until just this past week to come to my attention, and I am sad for that. It should be better known and a staple of lists of f/f stories.Silhouette of a Sparrow is mellow and contemplative, but bright and warm. The summer lakeside setting infuses the narrative voice: even though it isn't really a slow-paced story at all, it feels to me like a quiet, relaxing day, toasting gently in the sun as the water laps at the shore and birds call overhead. The story isn't entirely sweetness and light, as my description of the narrative might suggest. It takes place in a wealthy, white lake resort in 1926 and the story doesn't pretend that the people populating that time and place weren't homophobic, or sexist, or racist, and it also deals with WW1 shellshock in Garnet's dad and the class differences between Garnet, from St Paul, and Isabella, a flapper originally from a poor farm family.This is a book about Garnet choosing to make her own path in life, and how she discovers the options available to her. She is at Lake Minnetonka thanks to her father's cousin, a very wealthy woman, and her teenage daughter, who represent much of the old way of doing things. Hannah, the girl, isn't expected to do anything but marry and Mrs. Harrington, the cousin, has little truck with modern styles, much less female independence. When Garnet asks for permission to find a summer job (for pocket money, and a little bit of variety - the Harringtons are very boring), Mrs. Harrington only agrees because Garnet is merely middle class, and Mrs. H would prefer not to have her around. Garnet works for Miss Maple, an older woman who has chosen to never marry and instead manage her own hat shop, where Garnet meets Isabella, another woman who has struck off on her own. She is not much older than Garnet, but works as a dancer and dresses very stylishly with bobbed black hair, bright red lipstick, and dresses that show her knees and arms. Garnet yearns to be like Miss Maple and Isabella, but she feels obligation to her family to follow the traditional route Mrs. Harrington and Hannah represent, and to marry the boy she has been going with back home.In the course of things, Garnet and Isabella strike up a summer romance, which is sweet and gentle, but by no means chaste. I really liked the way their friendship grew and how Garnet began to see possibilities open before her. They spend a lot of time in the more secluded areas outdoors, to avoid prying eyes (after all, Isabella is scandalous, and Garnet can't risk Mrs. H revoking permission to wander on her own), which leads to lovely descriptions of the lake and resort area. Garnet is a junior member of the Audubon Society, which adds a nice thematic touch as she describes the birds she sees and compares people to birds as well. At less than 200 pages, this isn't a very long book - honestly, I feel like being cliché so I will: it's fleeting, like summer. Warm and joyful while it is here, but eventually it ends, and to make it longer would ruin what makes it so good.
    • 5/5
      I was utterly charmed from the first page of this historical novel. Set in the 1920's, it tells the story of Garnet Richards, a young woman who chafes at the strict rules her mother, and then her aunt lay out for her, ladylike pastimes, like embroidering for her hope chest, marriage after high school. When Garnet is sent away for the summer, to a lakeside resort with her even stricter aunt, she meets a flapper named Isabella.

      I really loved the way this evolved, the descriptions of the setting, and of Garnet's cutouts of paper birds- transforming her passion for learning and science into something more ladylike... and the way her friendship, and relationship with Isabella evolve. I zoomed through it in one sitting.
    • 5/5
      SILHOUETTE OF A SPARROW by Molly Beth Griffin is about a 16 year old girl and bird lover named Garnet. Garnet leaves for the summer to stay with a wealthy family. A young girl of 16 she has alot to think about, school, marriage and work. While on vacation Garnet meets a girl Isabella who helps her find her true identity. A great young adult fiction.reviewed by Rae Rating 4.5 Heat rating MILD
    • 4/5
      A beautifully written, richly detailed coming-of-age story set in the 1920s exploring independence and sexual awakening.
    • 4/5
      A strange little slip of a book, SILHOUETTE OF A SPARROW has a lovely title and an even lovelier cover featuring an image of delicate paper cut-out art. Inside, true literature emerges, a welcome change in the Young Adult or Juvenile Fiction category. Instead of contemporary teens facing contemporary issues, author Molly Beth Griffin has created historical characters, placing them in the 1920s, and artfully confronting them with timeless problems. Garnet is sixteen and has been sent to summer at a lakeside hotel with distant relatives while her mother remains at home trying to reunite with a husband and father who has returned, depressed and damaged, from WWI. Garnet's chaperone is a woman of distinctly Victorian ways, and she expects her own daughter as well as Garnet to follow her lead on how to be a lady. In direct contrast to the hotel and its guests, is a nearby amusement park and a dance hall. It is the 1920s and America is changing. Garnet sits on the front porch of the hotel doing needlework while yearning to venture next door to see what "real" life is all about.Author Griffin has created an admirable protagonist in Garnet who is bright, ambitious, curious, observant, and holds a streak of adventure inside her. While working at a local hat shop, she meets Isabella, a slightly older teen working as a dancer at the infamous dance hall. Neither teen really fits in at the summer resort, and they bond - as friends and in a more intimate way. The author is to be commended for creating suspense in a short novel that is heavy on descriptions of nature and reminders of responsibility. But suspense there is as Garnet and Isabella pursue their close friendship out of sight of the odd chaperone sitting on the hotel porch.Griffin has found a unique form in which to play her words. Each chapter is titled after a different kind of bird that would have been found in the Minnesota lake region during the 1920s. As the reader ponders Garnet's situation and waits for the story of Isabella and Garnet to play out, there is a great deal to be learned about birds. Also, Garnet's hobby of creating paper cutouts, a rather curious Victorian hobby, piques one's curiosity regarding that art form. The author manages to cram a great deal of thought into one, slim volume. Environmental issues, issues of sexual preference, of women's rights, of race and class distinctions, of dysfunctional families, and the effects of war - all find their way into 189 pages. Both characters are written about in a respectful way despite the fact that each one is pursuing independence in a totally different fashion. Throughout, there is a distinct message of kindness - how important it is, how one should treat others, and the realization that in being too self-centered, one may neglect the concerns and problems of those closest to them. Author Griffin is very good at getting her messages across to her teen audience.But is this book for teens? What defines Young Adult fiction these days? As an adult reader, it is difficult to predict how younger readers might react to this book. Might it be too slow moving, too bogged down in old-fashioned themes? It definitely falls into the category of literature rather than popular fiction, and while that is nice to see (and even better to read) one wonders how many teens are leaning toward literature these days. Older teens may find this novel way too tame, but it should find an audience with the 12-to-14-year-old crowd. It is a lovely story. I wish SILHOUETTE OF A SPARROW had been around when I was twelve years old.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written story about a girl struggling with her identity, and falling in love genuinely for the first time. Some of the descriptions were so lovely, I found myself whispering them to myself over and over. A couple of the characters who at first seemed flat, soon became more real as Garnet's eyes began to open. Garnet's story unfolds realistically, and in such a way that will inspire readers to take a closer look at themselves, and the world around them. I myself appreciated the afterword where the author informs us on which parts of the book were fact, and which were fiction. Silhouette of a Sparrow is a book I felt bittersweet about finishing, and I would recommend it to anyone.
    • 5/5
      So effing good. This had best win a Lammy, if not a Printz.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program from Librarything. I quite enjoyed it. Set in the 20, it is the story of Garnet, who has been forgoing her love of nature to focus on learning the skills needed to be an adult woman who can manage a household. But most of that is in the background. Garnet is sent out of the city to live with a relative for the summer while her father tries to recover from PTSD from WWI. While there, she meets Isabella and they fall in love. I liked that this book, rather like Catherine, Called Birdy, really portrays life in the 20s - what girls are expected to learn, etc. But I am also not entirely convinced about how easy it was for the two protagonists to accept themselves and eventually be accepted by others. On the other hand, it was the 20s, which was a bit more relaxed, and one of them did already have gay aunts. I also really enjoyed the descriptions of cutting silhouettes, a craft I haven't thought about in years, and am fascinated by. Each chapter starts with the silhouette of a bird, and the craft plays a key role in the plot.I would be curious to know what a reader of the correct age would think of it. My only "complaint" is that, as an adult, I was able to read it so quickly that I feel like I missed out on really getting to enjoy some of the author's beautiful use of language. I think this was because I am not the target age group. I would say this could start being read by younger YA kids, but could be enjoyed by any age beyond that. It was a joy to read - I wish it had been longer!
    • 3/5
      Silhouette of a Sparrow is a quiet little LGBT coming of age story, set in... the 1920s or so? Garnet, the main character, has a passion for birds, a vague hope of going to college, and a summer to spend away from her family. She falls in love with a flapper, decides not to marry the boy who's waiting for her back home, and sets her sights on going to college.While there is drama in the story -- Hannah's outburst at her mother, thunder and hail storms, even a fire in the hotel where Garnet is staying -- none of it really did much for me. It's an introspective story, and that kind of thing didn't seem to fit; I was much more interested in the quiet parts, Garnet cutting out bird silhouettes and thinking of her father, trips out on the lake, the quiet triumphs in Garnet's life like getting a summer job and convincing her employer not to sell feathered hats anymore, etc.The relationship between Garnet and Isabella is almost unnecessary, when you view it that way: a friendship between them would be enough. But then of course you remember how little there is in the way of LGBT fiction and especially teen LGBT fiction -- I at least felt much less inclined to go bleh at the inclusion of an "unnecessary" romance when I thought about that.The ending fits the story well -- a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, some hope and some disappointment, maybe even some fear. It leaves a lot open, but that's alright, at least for this story.
    • 5/5
      The Silhouette of a Sparrow is a charming book. Probably one of the best I've read this year. It's 1926. Sixteen year old Garnet has been sent to a Minnesota resort to stay with cousins, Mrs. Harrington and her stuffy daughter Hannah, while her mother tries to make her father better. Ever since returning from WW I, he hasn't been the same. While away, Garnet ponders her boyfriend Teddy's "important question" while also thinking about alternatives to marriage, such as college.Her friend Alice writing that she got a summer job prompts Garnet to ask her mother if she, too, could work. Repsonding positively, Mrs. Harrington gets Garnet a job in a hat shop where she meets, Isabella, a dance hall dancer who ran away from home three years earlier at age 15 and is living on her own. Again, this causes Garnet to ponder her future, both in terms of college and love.Lesbian relations are no stranger to Garnet as her Aunt Rachel lives with her partner Sarah.I'll leave it at that. Molly Beth Griffin has created great characters, everyone having something to hide. But truly, Garnet and Isabella take the prize and all you want is for them to stay together. At a scant 188 pages, Silhouette of a Sparrow says it all.I'd love to read more from Molly Beth Griffin.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written story about a girl struggling with her identity, and falling in love genuinely for the first time. Some of the descriptions were so lovely, I found myself whispering them to myself over and over. A couple of the characters who at first seemed flat, soon became more real as Garnet's eyes began to open. Garnet's story unfolds realistically, and in such a way that will inspire readers to take a closer look at themselves, and the world around them. I myself appreciated the afterword where the author informs us on which parts of the book were fact, and which were fiction. Silhouette of a Sparrow is a book I felt bittersweet about finishing, and I would recommend it to anyone.