This was a beautifully written book about the Sparrow’s family history spanning 13 generations. Rebecca Sparrow walked out of the woods one day when she was seven or eight and no one knew where she originated. Named Rebecca by the washerwoman who took her in and Sparrow by the local boys who saw Sparrows flocking to her almost supernaturally, she lived a short life affecting the small town of Unity, Massachusettes for generations to come.

Each Sparrow woman kept her surname and bore only one child, a girl. Upon the girl’s 13th birthday she would awake with a gift of some sort. Sarah Sparrow, Rebecca’s child, was said to need no sleep. Elinor can detect falsehood. Her daughter Jenny can dream other people’s dreams. And Jenny’s daughter, Stella, who just turned 13 can tell how some people are going to die.

Surprisingly, the book focuses little on the supernatural gifts of the Sparrow women and more on their unity and history. Each of the remaining Sparrow women have something to learn from one another. Each of them have made mistakes needing to be corrected. The Sparrow women touch the lives of the people of Unity in a wonderful way and help them to realize what has been there all along is exactly what they need.

I felt the last third of the book had pacing problems. Sometimes it was agonizingly slow. Sometimes details were given so quickly and subplots were wrapped up so hastily I had to wonder if I missed something. The last third of the book didn’t keep my interest the same way the first parts did. In the end, everything falls into place exactly as you expect it would with few twists and turns.