The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

In her powerful debut book, ‘The Girl Who Fell from the Sky,’ Heidi W. Durrow narrates the tale of Rachel, a black G.I. who is the daughter of a Danish woman. An accident in the family leaves Rachel as the only survivor. Raised in the 1980s, Rachel struggles to define herself as a young, mixed-race woman in a society that would like to see her as either black or white.

Similar to books like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John, the story tackles topics of race, class, and beauty. The journey into loss, pain, and kinship that Rachel takes as she faces her hidden demons and looks for serenity is poetic and moving.