If These Wings Could Fly

Written by Kyrie McCauley

Narrated by Lisa Flanagan

Perfect for fans of Laura Ruby, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Mindy McGinnis, Kyrie McCauley’s stunning YA debut is a powerful story about the haunting specter of domestic violence and the rebellious forces of sisterhood and first love. Winner of the William C. Morris Award!

Tens of thousands of crows invading Auburn, Pennsylvania, is a problem for everyone in town except seventeen-year-old Leighton Barnes. For Leighton, it’s no stranger than her house, which inexplicably repairs itself every time her father loses his temper and breaks things.

Leighton doesn’t have time for the crows—it’s her senior year, and acceptance to her dream college is finally within reach. But grabbing that lifeline means abandoning her sisters, a choice she’s not ready to face.

With her father’s rage worsening and the town in chaos over the crows, Leighton allows herself a chance at happiness with Liam, her charming classmate, even though falling in love feels like a revolutionary act.

Balancing school, dating, and survival under the shadow of sixty thousand feathered wings starts to feel almost comfortable, but Leighton knows that this fragile equilibrium can only last so long before it shatters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062977694

Kyrie McCauley

Kyrie McCauley is the author of If These Wings Could Fly, winner of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award; We Can Be Heroes; Bad Graces; and All the Dead Lie Down. She has also been a waitress, nanny, singer in a band, ACLU intern, rally organizer, Truman Scholar, and, most recently, a mother and a writer. She holds a master of science in social policy from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives near Philadelphia with her husband, children, and several ill-mannered but beloved cats. You can visit Kyrie at kyriemccauley.com.

Reviews for If These Wings Could Fly

[Jessica Austin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book. Strong female and important message and subject that needs to be talked about.

[Gina Viarruel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

TW: domestic violence. The book is painfully familiar but so needed in literature today. I love the use of the crows in this story, especially Joe.

[maryzee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very impressive and powerful, well written debut novel.

[jacea-105367 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This review is going to be a bit shorter and more scattered than usual because normally when I review a book I write down my thoughts/feelings every time I put it down. However, with this book, I read it in three chunks so there were very few notes other than “I LOVE IT".

One big note I did take away from this book is that this is EXACTLY the kind of strong female character I want to read about more often. I think when young adult readers specifically are looking for the "strong female character" trope they lean towards pretty much everything other than contemporary because we want to see a powerful lady snap an elf's neck with a single glance or stand up to a dystopian dictator. This book is put under contemporary and magic realism but the main character herself is not really magical and it could not at all be considered a fantasy. Our main character, Leighton, is the most incredible example of a real-life strong female character. I'm going to try not to spoil things but she has the kind of story that needs to be told, and she took back power in her life in a way that was almost brutally realistic. I just love how she was written and how real she was without being bland or hard to read about. All of the characters were beautifully real, really. So many books that are tackling a strong issue become tunnel-visioned and none of the characters outside that problem get life in them or have any other problems, which is understandable because too many topics make writing hard, but it is also not how real life works. If These Wings Could Fly annihilated that! Domestic violence, abusers being victims, racial minorities, authority figures turning a blind eye, so many good things that all happen in real life at the same time got addressed.

The second thing is actually a big part of why I was interested in the book in the first place. Crows are my favourite animal. I've loved them pretty much my whole life (tiny me had a crow as my imaginary friend). So I was really interested to see just how they played into the book without it being a fantasy, and I was very pleased. Another topic that's a bit hard to describe without spoilers but I loved how clear it was that the author actually dug into in for about crows and didn't just look at some out her window and call it good.

Finally, I just want to say that this is my first five-star read of 2020, and already on my top books of the year list event though it's only February so if you enjoy contemporary books please go get a copy when it comes out!