Scarlet Kavanagh has returned from New York to Pennsylvania to see her mother Addie die painfully from cancer and to help her father bury his environmental evangelist wife secretly and illegally. Addie and Tom are two academics who are inspired and driven by the beauty of nature and in particular the song of the birds living within it, and each one strives to unconditionally love and support the other throughout their marriage. Hinnefeld’s inspired intertwining of the study of birds perfectly echoes the beauty of love and fragility found in human relationships.

Tom sees his wife physically and spiritually fade into illness and despair and his daughter still struggling to find her own place in a world surrounded by secrets and heartache and wonders at his own strengths to endure or help either of them.

The story unfolds in the past and present through the use of bird watching manuals, recalled conversations and the devotion for Addie held by her two college roommates Cora and Lou who have their own skeletons to hide and resolution to find. Part environmental statement, part love story, it is all-engrossing and a wonderful read.