Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Flight Behavior,” c 2012, has two main plots. One of them is the story of a family living in the American rural southeast, near the Appalachians. The other is the story of science experts who are studying the butterfly invasion of this rural southeast. The theme is how do family and friends and scientists live every day with happiness even on tough days; be thankful for love on this earth. The title of the book describes both plots and the people in both plots.

For plot one, the mother and father of the children Preston and Cordelia are the main characters in the book, and they live near the father’s parents. The children, Preston and Cordelia, are present enough that I feel like I know them. For plot two, the main characters are scientists who come to study the monarch butterflies who have flown here from Mexico.

One of the aspects of the plot we read all through the book is Dellarobia and Cub taking care of ewes. Toward the end of the book she saves a newborn lamb, when the mother gives birth to this lamb and then runs off. “Black, strangely flat against the snow, unmoving inside its translucent sac: a tiny sheep child” (p. 415).

To me the theme is how people living anywhere try to live according to their interests and beliefs. The mother and father of the two children seem to me like they have a good life, but at the end of the book, mother plans to leave her husband, move away, and become a student at a nearby college, perhaps becoming a veterinarian. We read about her ups and downs with her husband all the way through the book. He seems loving and thoughtful in his married life to me, but Cub’s way is not what makes Dellarobia feel comfortable.

This family living in the southeast does go to a lively church, and toward the end of the book, they ask for a meeting with the preacher to discuss whether or not they should do logging in the woods of their property. The book of the Bible referred to most often is Job, so I read that book again. And it does tell us about how we make sense of life with our belief in God. Another title to share is Walter Brueggemann’s “An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination,” c 2003. “The dramatic power of the book of Job attests to the reality that faith, beyond easy convictions, is a demanding way to live that thrives on candor and requires immense courage” (p. 302).

There are many scenes at church, Mountain Fellowship. The pastor, Bobby, walks to the front in “jeans and an open-collar shirt” (p. 62). During my first visit to the church, I stand with them to sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The church has a sanctuary, a fellowship room, a nursery, and a café. You can watch the service at the café.

The leading scientist for the scientific study of butterflies, Ovid, comes from New Mexico. He brings a small research team to study the butterflies with him. Toward the end of the book Dellarobia is hired to work with the specialists.

I began reading this 433-page book in November 2022, and finished the last page on Jan. 14, 2023. There was so much for me to think and write about in my notebook, that I’ve put off working on taxes and sending holiday cards until mid-January.

Much of “Flight Behavior” does take place in January. “January made its way like a high-wire walker, placing one foot, then another, on the freezing line” (p. 246).

Kingsolver is a well-known author who does live in the southeast U.S.A. You can check out these other titles from your Marshall-Lyon County Library: “The Bean Trees,” “Pigs in Heaven,” “Animal Dreams,” “Small Wonders,” “The Lacuna.” “The Poisonwood Bible,” “Demon Copperhead,” “Prodigal Summer,” “Unsheltered,” “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” “Small Wonder,” “High Tide in Tuscon,” “How to Fly.” Marshalllyonlibrary.org