Mixing historical and supernatural fiction, 'Two Feathers' will be 22nd DBRL One Read

Aarik Danielsen, Columbia Daily Tribune
·2 min read
"When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky"
"When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky"

Columbia readers are invited to dive deep into a novel that strikes a unique balance between the historical and fantastical.

Margaret Verble's 2021 book "When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky" secured the community vote, making it the 22nd book to be called a Daniel Boone Regional Library One Read, the library system announced today. In September, the library and its community partners will organize a month's worth of activities around the novel's themes.

Lulu Miller's 2020 nonfiction title "Why Fish Don't Exist" was this year's runner-up and, if tradition carries over, will be the subject of its own book discussion during One Read programming.

The third of Verble's four books to date, "When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky" follows the title character, a Cherokee horse diver performing at a Nashville zoo in the 1920s. After a terrifying diving accident uncovers secrets on the zoo property, strange and supernatural circumstances follow. Two Feathers and several friends, including a Black caretaker at the zoo, must seek answers.

"Effectively deploying her diverse cast of characters, Verble ... captures the complex social interactions of the time," Joanna Burkhardt wrote in Library Journal. "From race relations to social class to working conditions, Verble addresses key issues while spinning her ghost story around the fictionalized employees of a park that actually existed."

Verble is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who grew up in Nashville; she now lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Her debut novel "Maud's Line" is set in the late '20s, on the cusp of American economic collapse; a fraught romance between the title character, who is of white and Cherokee heritage, and a traveling salesman animates the story, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Margaret Verble
Margaret Verble

Verble's newest book, "Stealing," hit shelves this year and the theft in question is human — that of a young Cherokee girl who moved to a Christian boarding school in the '50s.

Past One Read titles include Harper Lee's iconic "To Kill a Mockingbird," Emily St. John Mandel's "Station Eleven," David Grann's "Killers of the Flower Moon," Jessica Bruder's "Nomadland," and last year's title, "Furious Hours" by Casey Cep.

For more on this year's One Read, visit https://oneread.dbrl.org/.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mixing historical, supernatural fiction, 'Two Feathers' is next DBRL One Read