The Underneath

Kathi Appelt has published several picture books according to her biog in this book but I hadn't particularly come across her. Her debut novel is haunting, cruel, endearing, heartbreaking, disturbing, glorious, and captivating.

"It wasn't the chirring of the mourning doves that woke the calico cat, or the uncertain sun peeking through the clouds, or even the rustling of a nearby squirrel. No, it was the baying of a nearby hound. She had never heard a song like it, all blue in its shape, blue and tender, slipping through the branches, gliding on the morning air. She felt the ache of it. Here was a song that sounded exactly like she felt.............." Wendy