It takes long sight to see the truth,
and a strong heart to follow it.

Before he died, Sana’s father told a story that has terrified her ever since—Sana will one day grow wings. The Sea Swimmers, her mother’s people, live by stories, and Sana tries to follow them. But her father had been a Sky Flyer, and Sana is caught somewhere in between. Tales of her thick-skinned, webbed-toed clansmen who see clearly only in water speak little to a pale, long-sighted girl. Especially one with the unheard-of impulse to defy the elders and protect a thunderbird fledgling from the boys sent to destroy him.

When her mother remarries, Sana moves in with her grandmother, realizing her life-long dream of a real home. The large house, filled with aunts, uncles, and cousins, is all she ever wished for, and she vows to carve her place in her clan and her new family.

But life in a longhouse proves challenging. A Myst, a malevolent forest spirit, is haunting the village, despite regular sacrifices of seal and fish. Sana’s grandmother treats her more like a servant than family. And Sana is no closer to understanding how she fits into tribal stories that don’t harmonize with what she sees. Nasosi, a retired slave from the grasslands, comes to her aid with tales of the Story Weaver who reaches deeper than the fears and near-sighted explanations of Sea Swimmer myth. Sana is torn between loyalty to her tribe and these new legends that feel truer than those she has heard her whole life.

Sana’s last hope of acceptance flies away when wingbuds sprout from her shoulders. The clan leader’s grandson discovers her secret and attempts to blackmail her. When Sana refuses his advances, he reveals her deformity and accuses her of luring the Myst to the village. She knows no Sea Swimmer story to explain his cruelty, but before she can ask Nasosi for insight, her grandmother decides a seal offering is not sufficient. They must sacrifice the cause of all the trouble. As the drums beat, the Myst lurks in the shadows, and the elders march Sana into the woods, she calls out to a Story Weaver she doesn’t know in hopes that her story—of the salmon, the thunderbird, and the Sea-Sky Girl—is not over yet.

Thunderbird is currently in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. To see the excerpt the judges rated, click on "ABNA Excerpt." If you have an Amazon account, you can leave a comment here.