Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

Jo can’t shake the little girl, who comes back each day, and so she begins to research missing children, calls the sheriff and enlists the help of her reclusive and mysterious neighbor Gabe. The peaceful, idyllic life, combined with hard work, is just the therapy Jo needs, until a tiny pajama clad and barefoot little girl shows up claiming to be from another planet. Determined to get back on track to what she loves after such a heart wrenching couple of years, JoAnna moves to a cabin in the woods to study nesting birds in rural Illinois. Jo Teale is an ornithologist trying to finish her Phd after taking two years off to deal with both the death of her mother and her own breast cancer. Here is my book review Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah.

But her characters and their difficulties will pull the reader into this story, even when it sometimes feels raw and violent and a bit unbelievable. The author addresses some tough but realistic issues that touch the lives of many.In her debut novel, Vanderah creates a story of life’s most difficult trials, many unimaginable to most of us. I enjoyed this novel as a change of pace.

But along the way, we really learn about Jo and Gabe’s backstories, family secrets, love, illness and loss. The pieces of the story come together at the end and the reader gets closure as to who Ursa really is and what happened to her. This story is reminiscent of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey with a fantasy like aspect. Jo’s neighbor Gabe also becomes involved in trying to solve the mystery of Ursa as Ursa has also befriended. Ursa returns to Jo’s house and despite trying to get more information and searching the missing children’s website daily, Jo has no clue as to who this child is and why no one has reported her missing. In her discussions with the sheriff, Jo hears his viewpoint that putting kids into the foster system can often do more harm than good. The girl, who refers to herself as Ursa runs away as the sheriff arrives. After a day or two of the girl refusing to tell Jo who her parents are and stating that she is from the Ursa Major Galaxy, Jo calls the sheriff for assistance. Joanna, an ornithologist doing field work for her PhD, arrives at her rental cottage one evening to find a young barefoot girl wearing pajamas in her yard.

Where The Forest Meets The Stars is a debut novel by Glendy Vanderah.