This book is titled Flight Behavior for
good reason. It opens with a 27-year-old
Applachian woman, Dellarobia Turnbow,
poised to take flight from her shotgun
marriage to a man she does not love and
no longer respects and from the responsibility
of two young children, and her mundane
life of near poverty. On her way to begin an
affair with a younger man, she runs up
the mountain above her family's farm and
straight into an astounding phenomenon
that changes everything for her.
She stumbles into the forest alight with
millions of beautiful orange Monarch butterflies
covering nearly every inch of the ground,
tree trunks and branches. Dellarobia is filled
with awe and wonderment and interprets
the sight as a sign from God that she must go
back to her life and try to make her
marriage work.
As word spreads about the butterflies,
the local religious community, then the
international media, consider the sight
miraculous. But when a Harvard-educated
scientist whose life work is studying
butterflies arrives and sets up a lab on the Turnbow
farm, he is certain that the migratory
patterns of these Monarch butterflies has been
disrupted by the effects of climate
change. On their annual flight to the warmer climate
of Mexico, something caused them to land
in the less-friendly climate of the Tennesee,
forest putting their survival at risk.
Dellarobia originally had planned to
improve her life by attending
college. But an unplanned pregnancy had
disrupted those plans and landed her - like
the butterflies— in a very different and
uncomfortable environment. As she gets involved in the scientific study taking
place in her own back yard, she begins to see that she and her children can
attain a better and more meaningful life.
Kingsolver tells a fascinating, gripping
story and tells it beautifully. But her book also
conveys an urgent social message about
climate change.—by Gail Stilwill
