The Sunbird — John Griffin

Forty years ago, in a remote corner of the US, a simple but fateful experiment was conducted. Ten thousand miles away, in an even more remote corner of Australia, something profoundly beautiful was lost. Like almost everyone else in the world, Chris Ryan, itinerant stonemason, would-be writer and recluse, is now living with the consequences -- without even realizing it. Unlike everyone else, one woman believes she knows how the two events connect and what she must do about it. And she is desperate they meet up. By the time he realizes she is more than she appears, their lives are entangled. Uncovering secrets, it seems, is her forte and a centuries-old conspiracy is her passion. Her far-flung quest has become his too -- a quest now perilous, and destined to end in the unlikeliest of places. The Sunbird is an intricate and moving exploration of the dark ends to which we are drawn when the nobility of the feminine spirit is crushed. Both tragic and heartening, it is a redemptive myth for our times.