SOLVED. Dark fantasy, bird-related title [s]

[D.M.]

Hi again, this book I read anywhere from 2-5 years ago, but it could date back to the 1990s. It was a mass market paperback, but written by a priest, pastor, or a friar.

It was a dark fantasy about a girl trapped in another world, and the title I believe was bird related, or she had some bird-related title throughout the book. It was dark in a kind of halloween way, and not typical christian fantasy. I think maybe the kid was taken, or there was some big bad who took kids, but my memory on this one is oddly fuzzy. Kind of like a darker, older, May Bird and the Ever After with no humor and whimsy.

Any ideas?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

D.M., are you still looking for this book?

[Izabela]

The wind up bird chronicle maybe

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

D.M., are you saying this was Christian fantasy, but not typical Christian fantasy?

[D.M.]

Sorry, didn't see that this had replies. It was released for the mass-market, not a Christian-branded book. Much too dark for that market. The author was a pastor, which struck me as unusual. I think it had werewolves in it who were evilish but were less evil than the main big bad, and a the main villain abducted kids.

[Michele]

Do you remember anything about this "other world" where she was trapped, or how she got there, or how old she was? Was there a purpose to her being there, something she had to do? Did she have any particular powers? Friends, helpers?

[D.M.]

I think the big bad kidnapped children. The kids were older, like twelve or so. I don't remember powers. I don't think there was a special purpose or she was a savior or anything.

I think the big bad was kind of a "sack of skin" guy, and the werewolves wound up fighting against him. I can't really remember more.

[Cheryl]

Feel free to 'bump' this every few months, just by adding a comment, as I'm doing here... so here's your free bump for summer. Seems like it should be an easy enough book for someone to remember.

[Scott]

The only fiction author that was a priest that I can think of is Andrew M. Greeley.

[D.M.]

No, it's not Andrew Greeley. It's not a famous priest or pastor. I just remember reading the book and finding it odd that the writer was one. It's a mainstream book, not from a Christian press, and quite grim.

[Tab]

D.M., do you remember if the pastor published the book under his name, like Reverend John Smith or Pastor John Smith, for example? Or, did he use a pen name?

Did you find out the author was a pastor/priest/etc from reading the author bio at the end of the book or some other way?

[D.M.]

It was from the bio. He didn't use his title in the book's name.

You sparked a memory asking this, and I found the book! I suddenly remembered it was a Lutheran pastor, searched the web, and found it. It wasn't a bird-related title as I thought. It's Dragonfly by Frederic S. Durbin.

[Scott]

Oh, I've read that, but didn't know (or forgot) Durbin was a pastor. Well, that explains a lot.

[Michele]

D.M. wrote: "You sparked a memory asking this, and I found the book!..."

How funny, I have the Arkham House edition of this ( ) and was just looking at it the other day, thinking "I should read this." Now I really want to!

[Scott]

Michele wrote: "How funny, I have the Arkham House edition of this and was just looking at it the other day..."

Caution, it's a total bait-and-switch.