Critical Praise

"Engaging, even heartwarming... Every character is memorable, each etched with distinctive lines and endearing idiosyncrasies."

—Bill Ott, Booklist

"Lynch’s depiction of the natural world and his deep sympathy for his characters carry the book [with] majestic moments."

—Publishers Weekly

"Wonderful... tender, sad and leavened with wit…Looming large among these characters is the irresistibly odd Brandon Vanderkool, a 6-foot-8, 232-pound naïf who’s recently joined the U.S. Border Patrol [and] communicates lucidly with the natural world, particularly with birds, which soar over political borders and through some of this novel’s most beautiful passages…Lynch has written not just a liberal critique of the war on terror but also a moving, optimistic rebuttal of our paranoia that encourages us to imagine, with Brandon, the possibility of flying over everything that divides us."

—Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Lynch writes with enviable restraint, and he sees in a most unexpected way how a person’s life clicks and tumbles into (or out of) place. His turns of phrase are as light as a feather, but so precise and purposeful that you’ll quickly find yourself buoyed by the vistas they show you."

—Anne Bartholomew, Louisville Courier-Journal