The Language of Sparrows
Rachel Phifer crafts a beautiful story about broken people
and what happens when they find each other in the midst of various crises.
April is raising a teenaged daughter on her own as she mourns the loss of a
life she expected. Sierra is obsessed with languages, but refuses to
communicate the important things with her mom. Luca, a single elderly
gentleman, becomes the unlikeliest of friends, despite the deep wounds he
carries from his time in a Romanian gulag. His son Nick, a teacher, encourages
Sierra at school, and warily agrees to allow her to study with his father.
These fascinating characters intersect with each other and
form an ad hoc family of sorts. When Sierra and Nick separately learn the truth
about their fathers, worlds are turned upside down, and brokenness seems to
move beyond repair.
I think it’s the brokenness of each character that makes
them so relatable. We are all broken in one way or another. We need people in
our lives to help us mend. And at times, I think we all feel completely alone
in our pain, helpless to heal. So this story looks at brokenness and the
different ways we (as humans) seek healing.
I love several details in the story, including the fact that
the single mom and daughter live in a neighborhood that is not overly safe.
This makes it real for me. Also, the fact that the teenager is highly
intelligent, especially when it comes to learning languages. Since her mother
is not skilled at languages, her daughter’s obsession almost hinders the
communication between them, since she is literally reading and writing in
different languages. Most parents of teenagers feel like they speak a different language, so the irony is lovely.
Please check this story out. It’s truly enjoyable and the
characters linger in the best of ways. You can get to know Rachel Phifer on facebook or her website.
Do you speak more than one language fluently? Do you feel
like your kids speak a different language altogether, even though you were the
one to teach them how to speak?
