The Crane Husband

Summary

Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to a raw, powerful fable of love, sacrifice, and family.

Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.

A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.
But when her mom brings home a six-foot-tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to stop him forcing his way into their lives and her mom’s heart. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, she abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.

In this stunning contemporary retelling of “The Crane Wife” by the author of When Women Were Dragons and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family—and change the story.