A timely and moving bicultural coming-of-age tale, based on a true story and told by an author who has struggled with the same issues as her protagonist.
The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that s not how she sees herself.
Meanwhile, a mystery unfolds, revealing the terrible truth about Rachel s last morning on a Chicago rooftop. Interwoven with her voice are those of Jamie, a neighborhood boy who witnessed the events, and Laronne, a friend of Rachel s mother. Inspired by a true story of a mother s twisted love, "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" reveals an unfathomable past and explores issues of identity at a time when many people are asking "Must race confine us and define us?"