where the forest meets the stars - glendy vanderah

this book was incredibly touching. jo, a grad student studying nesting birds, discovers a girl who claims to be an alien in the body of a dead little girl and shows signs of abuse. the slow unveiling of ursa's backstory is incredible and just suspenseful enough, without distracting from the beauty of her developing relationship with jo. the whole story is a back-and-forth between ursa's two realities, and i didn't know what to think for much of it. it could well be that she was so badly traumatized that she became completely disassociated from her true self - what she witnessed would be more than enough to do so. however, i'm inclined to believe the first version of herself, at least a little bit. she is a magnificent presence, intelligent and introspective and celestial. maybe she really did just find so many miracles (baby birds, developing love...) that she decided to stay on earth, no matter her origins.