The novel In Hovering Flight had the potential to be a truly addictive work. There were parts where the voices of each character flowed off the page, where the plot and the characters within it conjured up strong emotions. There were times when I really cared about the characters, when I didn’t want to put the book down.

And then there were times when the story was caught up in itself and dragged on. It would put me to sleep and I’d have trouble picking it up again. Sometimes the characters seemed to all meld together, each too similar to differentiate except through the circumstances of their lives. For instance, Cora had a “normal” family with a husband and two sons, one autistic. Lou had a less normal family with a cheating husband and no children. Addie had a family with a former professor for a husband and a daughter. Apart from those details, it was difficult to believably “hear” each character. ( )

I found In Hovering Flight to be thought provoking and stirring. I started reading it and couldn't put it down until I finished it. It begins with a daughter coming home to say goodbye to her mother dying of cancer. Addie, the mother, a famous bird artist and environmental activist, is surrounded by her best friends from college, Cora & Lou, and her dear husband, Tom. In saying goodbye, we are whisked off to the beginning of Addie and Toms humble beginnings as student and college professor, lovers who are passionate about the natural world around them. We learn of a complicated life, of the strength of friendship and the agony of betrayal and how the sum of everything draws everyone back to Addie in the end. With the gentle remembrances of the people most important to Addie, Addies daughter Scarlet gains a better understanding of her mother and who she really was. On the surface it is a love story of Addie, & Tom, and the struggle within Addie trying to juggle activist, mother & wife. But just below the surface it is a beautifully written story of the nature that surrounds us and the gifts that it can give us if we just stand still for a moment and take it all in.... listen to the song of the birds... feel the crush of the grass underneath our feet... Watch the soar of a hawk... and how life is precious for all of nature and we should try and appreciate it all while we can.

Bird lovers will appreciate the poetic voice Joyce Hinnefeld lends to the descriptions of the patient wait in the woods to see a scarlet tanger, a wood thrush or a beautiful cardinal, and the mysterious deciphering of a bird song heard in the distance. I've actually gone to Cape May birding during fall migration and this story captures the wonder of it all...

It's a beautifully written story. One that you may find yourself reading passages from again just to revisit the beauty of nature.... ( )

Great book even if you are not a bird lover . Personally hard book for me as I had recently lost my mother. But still a beautiful love story. A very thought provoking book as well! Would recommend! ( )

I love stories about birds, about families, about the making of art. This novel covers all 3...I also appreciate writing that demonstrates a deep love of words, and again, I found that in this lovely book. The plot meandered a little bit at times, and I also find it hard to connect with characters who call their parents by their first names. Overall, however, a fine read. ( )

In the first chapter of In Hovering Flight poet Scarlet Kavanagh arrives at the New Jersey shore home of her mother’s closest friend Cora to sit with her mother Addie as she dies. Scarlet’s father, a professor of ornithology at a small college in southern Pennsylvania, and Lou - another of her mother’s friends are also present. Although the novel begins with Addie’s death, it is the lives of these characters, not the death of Addie, which the reader becomes enthralled with in this delicately unfolding novel about love and loss.

Addie Strumer Kavanagh is a college student when she meets Tom Kavanagh - her professor in Biology of the Birds. Addie’s love of drawing birds parallels Tom’s fascination with bird song, and when they marry they live in a small cabin in the Pennsylvania woods full of birds and close to bubbling creeks. When their daughter is born, she is named for the Scarlet Tanager which Addie has grown to love. Addie’s friends, Cora and Lou, move in and out of Tom and Addie’s lives - having children of their own and pursuing their own dreams, and yet sustaining a connection with each other. As in all great stories, the characters face challenges and grow and change through the years - Addie becomes obsessed with environmentalism and activism, Cora struggles to raise a child with autism, Tom must live with a mistake, Lou’s choice of men is never right, and beautiful Scarlet moves from girlhood to womanhood with all the struggles one might expect of a creative and sensitive child.

In Hovering Flight is a beautifully wrought and soothing story about what it means to love another, about the flaws in relationships and how they are sustained despite these flaws. The novel is also about the ambivalent relationship between mother and daughter. Addie and Scarlet’s relationship is one of subtle conflict, doubt, awe, and ultimately deep love.

Throughout the novel, Hinnefeld wraps the themes of friendship, nature, the fragility of eco-systems, and art. These themes inspire the characters and bind them to each other. Hinnefeld’s writing is poetic, sensitive and evocative. I was touched by the very real struggles of her characters - their failed dreams, their conflicted love for each other, their doubts and triumphs. This debut novel is simply a joy to read - one which resonates with the songs of birds and the grace of the human spirit.

Highly recommended. ( )