Lift: A Memoir

The respect of your peers is great. Writers crave that. Praise from a mentor is even better. But nothing beats a star in a national review.

Congratulations to our friend Rebecca O’Connor for the following starred review in Publisher’s Weekly—and of course for penning the memoir that earned it.

From PW:

Lift: A Memoir Rebecca K. O’Connor. Red Hen, $18.95 (208p) ISBN 1597094603Novelist and nature reference author O’Connor (Falcon’s Return) crafts a lyrical tribute to the spiritual connection between humans and birds in this memoir of the excruciating, transformative process of training a peregrine falcon: “Falconry is a religion, a way of thinking, a means of experiencing life.” Indeed, readers will find almost as much spiritual content as natural. Despite O’Connor’s icy-clear voice, her descriptions of training a young male falcon are fascinating for bird lovers and civilians alike: “when the falcon connects a high-speed dive… the duck remains a piece of the sky and only its body careens to earth.” Surprisingly, periodic flashbacks to a troubled childhood—an abusive stepfather, an absentee mother—bolster her story rather than distract, turning a falcon’s “serious and unmerciful” eye back on her own life, and discovering inexplicable wells of generosity and forgiveness for the family who wronged her. O’Connor packs a lot of intelligence, poise and feeling into a few pages, making this a consistently rewarding read. (Nov.)

Find out for yourself and buy Rebecca’s book here!