• Reading Group Guide

Canadian Ann-Marie MacDonald's second novel, following the
internationally bestselling (and Oprah's Book Club favorite) FALL
ON YOUR KNEES, opens with a powerful scene --- a murder, one whose
only witnesses are the crows perched in the branches of the trees
above. While both victim and perpetrator are unknown to the reader
and the entire chapter takes up less than half a page, it packs an
emotional punch and sets the tone for the chapters to come. In the
next scene, we are introduced to the happy, near picture-perfect
McCarthy family traveling cross-country to a new home and idyllic
future. This sudden switch in mood effectively paves the way for
the story ahead --- nothing is certain, and surprises are lurking
around every corner.

The year is 1962, the Cold War is heating up, the "space race" is
on, and for the time being optimism still outweighs cynicism. Jack
McCarthy, a career officer in the RCAF, has just been posted to the
Centralia Air Force Station in Ontario, near the Canadian-American
border. His family --- wife Mimi, 12-year-old Mike, and 8-year-old
Madeleine --- are overjoyed to be back in their native Canada after
an overseas stint at a Germany base.

The McCarthys settle in to their new home in the "PMQ" (permanent
married quarters), the kids enroll in school, Mimi blissfully
immerses herself in domestic tasks, and Jack takes on his first
assignment at Centralia --- a secret mission to watch over a Soviet
defector who eventually will be smuggled across the border to work
on the U.S. space program. When Jack learns his charge is actually
a former Nazi who commanded slave labor at Peenemunde (the
underground cave and nucleus of the Nazi rocket program) his duty
quickly becomes more morally burdensome than he can bear.

Meanwhile, 8-year-old Madeleine is keeping secrets of her own. She
and several of her 4th grade classmates are being molested by their
teacher during one-on-one picnics at a place they call Rock Bass.
When one of the girls ends up dead in the field, this seemingly
peaceful community is thrown into turmoil. Without knowing it, both
father and daughter hold pieces of the puzzle that can solve the
crime but neither one is talking. It will take Madeleine twenty
years to begin to understand the global implications of her
schoolmate's murder and come to terms with her role in the events
of that spring day.

Rich and complex, full of moral subtleties and ironies, THE WAY THE
CROW FLIES more than delivers on the promise shown in FALL ON YOUR
KNEES. Playwright MacDonald proves she is a master storyteller with
a finger on the pulse of human emotion and conflict. This is the
perfect novel with which to kick off the fall reading season.