Amazon.com description: Product Description: A magnificent gyrfalcon, soaring in the air over rocky cliffs, is winged by a hunter and falls to earth wounded. Rescued and taken to a nearby farmhouse, the bird's plight will irrevocably change the lives of her savior, Michael Somers, and the woman and child Somers comes to love. Somers has returned to his hometown of Little River Bend to unlock the secrets of his own past -- secrets that drove him years ago to almost destroy his family in one night of senseless violence. Released from treatment, but shunned by his neighbors, Somers is determined to heal the bird and release her to freedom. Watching from afar is a troubled little boy who lost his ability to speak after witnessing his father's death in a hunting accident. Slowly, an emotional bond grows between this lonely child, his mother, and the strange man who seems to have the ability to heal. Set in the majestic snow-covered spruce forests of the Pacific Northwest, this stunning literary debut explores the enduring strength of human compassion and the redemptive power of nature.