This book was a double pleasure in that a friend read it at about the same time.  It’s always wonderful to discuss books, especially when we both enjoyed it so much.

While the summary leads you to believe that this is a story of the Operation Baby Lift out of Vietnam – it is so much more.  Told mainly in three different years and narrated by three voices in the same family, it compounded the story to a level where you as a reader obtained a 360 view.

The voices are of the mother, father, and oldest sister in a family of three girls.  The middle daughter was adopted tangentially from Vietnam.  The considerable impact and ripple effect the Vietnam War had on not only the people of the country and the US soldiers but extended families is presented with heart.

I loved the tie into birds, their nests and families as either mentions in poetry or as comparisons with to the three daughters.  It helped make what could have been a very difficult subject a lot easier to comprehend.

A minor yet impactful character Mrs. Olds says,  “Life requires so much courage out of us, doesn’t it?” All the characters in this book were facing so many things that took a lot of courage just to put one foot in front of the other and go about their normal lives. The Grandmother who lost a son, the Uncle who lost a part of himself, a mother who chose a different path and a daughter who had a path chosen for her.

This book is calmly paced and left me with a feeling of contentment not only for the characters lives portrayed inside the book but also for what they could become.