The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach - by Jennifer Dupree (Paperback)

About the Book

What happens when a 19-year-old girl, alone and exhausted, follows a fleeting impulse and tosses her screaming infant son out a window? What happens if that baby is caught by a woman who-standing below looks up and reaches out? And what if the catcher's own fragile pregnancy ends, causing her to believe that the baby she caught is meant to be hers? The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is told from alternating points of view of the three main characters: young mother Sophia Leach, baby-catcher Rose Rankin, and Rose's husband, Hank, who feels like a suited-up coach standing on the sidelines. While Rose dives head-on into pursuing custody of Owen Leach, she neglects her own two-year-old son and her marriage. Hank-desperate to be needed-and Sophia-drawn to the idea of family stability-get dangerously close. How far will Rose go to get custody if Sophia refuses to hand over her son? What will be the cost to Hank and Rose's marriage? How does a desperate mother gain control in an uncontrollable world? The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is a novel about what it means to be a "good" mother, and who gets to decide.

Book Synopsis

What happens when a 19-year-old girl, alone and exhausted, follows a fleeting impulse and tosses her screaming infant son out a window?

What happens if that baby is caught by a woman who-standing below looks up and reaches out? And what if the catcher's own fragile pregnancy ends, causing her to believe that the baby she caught is meant to be hers?

The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is told from alternating points of view of the three main characters: young mother Sophia Leach, baby-catcher Rose Rankin, and Rose's husband, Hank, who feels like a suited-up coach standing on the sidelines. While Rose dives head-on into pursuing custody of Owen Leach, she neglects her own two-year-old son and her marriage. Hank-desperate to be needed-and Sophia-drawn to the idea of family stability-get dangerously close.

How far will Rose go to get custody if Sophia refuses to hand over her son? What will be the cost to Hank and Rose's marriage? How does a desperate mother gain control in an uncontrollable world?

The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is a novel about what it means to be a "good" mother, and who gets to decide.

Review Quotes

"I was genuinely gripped. This novel has velocity! Velocity and rare pathos. An entertaining, funny, sad, and highly clever book...people will want to read."

- Sarah Braunstein, author of The Sweet Relief of Missing Children

"The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach kept me riveted from the book's stunning and dramatic opening scenes to its moving conclusion. Jennifer Dupree's smooth prose and wide-open heart makes this a notable debut novel."

- Aaron Hamburger, author of Faith for Beginners and The View from Stalin's Head

"From its immediately compelling opening to its surprising and satisfying end, The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is a bold, funny and ultimately moving debut novel."

- Elizabeth Searle, author of Girl Held in Home and Tonya & Nancy: the Rock Opera

"In its first pages, The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach plunges us into the lives of two very different women whose worlds unexpectedly collide when one acts and the other reacts. The engrossing story that follows unravels the strands of desperation and longing inside these complex characters and exposes the inevitable consequences of their decisions. With stirring and vivid prose, Jennifer Dupree probes complicated and unsettling questions about motherhood and family and forces us to reckon with our own established notions of both. A stunning debut from a writer whose voice will not soon be forgotten."

-- Melanie Brooks, author of Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma