What an unbelievably powerful storyteller. What a heart wrenching story. Heathfield makes you stroll through sadness until you realise too late that you're waist deep in pain and then somehow you have to trudge through a crap load of emotions that stick to you long after the book is finished. She did it with a her first book Paper Butterflies and she has done it yet again.

I don't want to give too much away but this is a story of a young female circus traveller who falls in a 'forbidden' love with a non traveler. It's a muted slow build drama and I say muted only because this type of forbidden love is not the crazy taboo we've started to have shoved down our throats as writers try to outdo each other with wacky plots.
It's simple but realistic in that it's about two people from two different stations in society falling in love. It also deals with the burdens and restrictions placed from family loyalties and the secrets that can grow from such ironically close knit relationships.
It's beautiful, haunting and realistically compelling as it weaves the reader through the struggles we can internalise from trying to find our place in the world.

Amazing, can't wait to read more from this author.

I read Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield last year and it simply blew me away. Given this I couldn't wait to read Flight of a Starling. This author knows how to turn the simple into the extraordinary. The language is engaging, unusual and evocative, you won't find any padding or filler here. I raced through this book and the end came far to quickly. The characters are engaging and real, and the view of circus life was a nice touch. I read the last few chapters of this book in a state of appalled tension. I knew the ending would be devastating and beautiful in equal measure, and whilst I knew what was coming the reality of it made me shift in my seat and read through partially closed eyes. Then suddenly alongside the sadness comes the hope - this really is great writing. Recommended to anyone who enjoys YA books - it's great.