Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

Nightbird by Alice Hoffman is one of those books that stays with you for a long time.  It is a middle grade reader that I feel any grown up would love.  I read it in one day and loved it.  Usually I recommend a book knowing that it will appeal to a certain audience.  I generally need to like the book but even if I don't I usually know it will fill a need for a certain reader.  This is not the case here.  This is a book I wish had never ended...a story that is timeless.

I have always read Alice Hoffman books.  Her last few grown up novels I have loved....I am actually reading her most recent novel The Marriage of Opposites as I write this.  Beyond that I have loved her YA titles too....the best being Green Angel a book that I still see vividly in my mind.

I now have a new favorite....today's book Nightbird.  Like I said I read it one afternoon. It is more a middle grade novel than YA but that doesn't matter to me.  I always feel like books don't really have an age range.  Middle grade, YA or adult as long as I am reading a good story it doesn't matter.  That is how I felt when I read Nightbird.  From the first moment I started reading I  was drawn into the world of the main character "Twig"....she sort of reminded me of myself at her age.  I loved to read and kept mostly to myself.  This was a book I would have devoured when I  was young.  Alice Hoffman has written a book that feels like it could have taken place at any time. It doesn't pinpoint an era so the reader has the freedom to see just the characters and the moment of the story not the when of the story.  It really took be back to being a twelve year old reading in the backyard on a summers day.

I love how Alice Hoffman injects magic in her stories.  It is such a subtle magic that we can almost feel like it is real.  The world she has created here is warm and inviting a world I didn't want to leave. I realize I haven't given a description of what it is about and there is a reason for that.  This book is all about emotion and feelings.  The joy I felt when reading it....but as I have said before I am not a reviewer....I recommend books that should be read.  I don't want to give a review that tells you the story because the reader should find that out for themselves.  I am just here to say that it should be read....especially if you love a good mystery with a bit of fantasy thrown in....a story with great characters that will stay with you forever.  I literally cried when it was over because it so reminded me of how books made me feel when I was young....to go back to that time even for a moment was a joy.