One Came Home by Amy Timberlake

 

The year is 1871. The place is Placid, Wisconsin. The event is the arrival of huge flocks of pigeons. The mystery concerns the dead body bought back into town by sheriff McCabe. The twist comes when Georgie, sister of Agatha, refuses to believe this body, which they are burying today, is actually Agatha.

Georgie is carrying huge guilt. Her sister Agatha seemed set to marry young Billy McCabe but then the older man, Mr Olmstead comes courting and it seems Agatha prefers his company perhaps because he owns a huge library of books in his hotel. Georgie sees Agatha kissing Billy and she decides to tell Mr Olmstead. Shortly after this, Agatha disappears. Then days later the sheriff arrives with that body. Georgie is determined to uncover the truth. She thinks she can do this alone but in reality she will need help but is Billy McCabe the right person to join her journey?

Here are some text quotes which show the quiet wisdom of Georgie:

"As for particular clothing, I decided to wear my split skirt. I planned on travelling by horseback, and sidesaddles seemed precarious. Doesn't a person have more chance of staying on top of a horse with one leg over each side? I didn't want to perch; I wanted to clamp. Not that I'd ridden a horse before, but some things make sense."

"If you only talk to nice people you won't find out the half of it. Nice people either keep their noses so clean they hardly know a thing, or they conveniently forget what they know and fill their heads with daisies. You've got to talk to the rude ones as well."

"Seemed like I'd lived two lifetimes already. My first thirteen years took an uneventful forever, but this second lifetime? Why, it took all of three days: Billy and I had left on a Saturday night. I'd met a cougar on Sunday. I'd been in Dog Hollow on Monday. And today was Tuesday. On Tuesday I'd been to the nowhere place and Garrow farm, made a marriage proposal, and found money in a cave. Would this Tuesday never end?"

The pace of this story seems to match the ride taken by Georgie on the back of a mule she names Long Ears but then Amy Timberlake pulls her reader up with such a jolt. Chapter sixteen contains a wonderful and dangerous twist and then we have (in my book on page 188) the most amazing shoot out scene. I forgot to mention Georgie is a crack shot. Georgie sure is one character you will never forget. As Besty Bird says in the School Library Journal "I like children’s books that sock you in the gut."

Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final page is turned. Kirkus star review

The author seamlessly introduces food, clothing, transportation and societal manners from the time period, allowing readers to learn about the era without even realizing it. Book Page

The author beautifully combines sadness with humor and it is hard not to develop a fondness for Georgie, who readily admits to her failures. Through the Looking Glass

I mentioned pigeons.  The pigeons in this book are passenger pigeons which are now extinct. At the back of One came home there are details of the millions of passenger pigeons that used to take over enormous nesting areas in the US.

In 1871 their great communal nesting sites had covered 850 square miles of Wisconsin’s sandy oak barrens—136 million breeding adults, naturalist A.W. Schorger later estimated. Audobon

Several reviews suggest The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate as a companion read to go with One came home.

I loved Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake and I was keen to read other books by Amy, so I popped One came home onto my wish list. One came home won a Newbery honor in 2014 and it is a very different book from Skunk and Badger but I am thrilled to have discovered it. The winner in 2014 was Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, written by Kate DiCamillo; with honors to Doll Bones, written by Holly Black; The Year of Billy Miller, written by Kevin Henkes; Paperboy, written by Vince Vawter; and One came home.