Biography

Julie Cantrell is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the award-winning novels Into the Free and When Mountains Move. Cantrell has served as editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and is a recipient of the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Fellowship. Her third novel, The Feathered Bone, an Okra Pick by SIBA, released January 2016, earning a starred review by Library Journal.

Schedule

3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
State Capitol, Senate Committee Room C
Book Talk
The Feathered Bone

4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Bookselling Tent
Book Signing

The Feathered Bone

"Feathers—no matter what size or shape or color—are all the same, if you think about them. They're soft. Delicate. But the secret thing about feathers is . . . they are very strong."

In the pre-Katrina glow of New Orleans, Amanda Salassi is anxious about chaperoning her daughter's sixth-grade field trip to the Big Easy during Halloween. And then her worst fears come true. Her daughter's best friend, Sarah, disappears amid the magic and revelry—gone, without a trace.

Unable to cope with her guilt, Amanda's daughter sinks into depression. And Amanda's husband turns destructive as he watches his family succumb to grief. Before long, Amanda's whole world has collapsed.

Amanda knows she has to save herself before it's too late. As she continues to search for Sarah, she embarks on a personal journey, seeking hope and purpose in the wake of so much tragedy and loss.

Set amidst the murky parishes of rural Louisiana and told through the eyes of two women who confront the darkest corners of humanity with quiet and unbreakable faith, The Feathered Bone is Julie Cantrell's master portrait of love in a fallen world.