cover image How to Knock a Bravebird from Her Perch: The First Novel in the Morrow Girls Series

How to Knock a Bravebird from Her Perch: The First Novel in the Morrow Girls Series

D. Bryant Simmons. Bravebird Publishing, $17.95 paper (344p) ISBN 978-0-9857516-6-1

When Pecan's doting father dies unexpectedly, she marries a boxer named Ricky Morrow and becomes pregnant almost immediately. Unfortunately for Pecan, things go from bad to worse: Ricky becomes violent, and she falls into a cycle of pregnancy and physical abuse. But when Pecan meets another man and tries to extricate herself from her marriage, she's forced to fight for her life and the lives of her children. From the start of Simmons's novel, readers will empathize with Pecan's struggles. While the author's prose is solid, the narrative is somewhat predictable. The plot and eventual outcome of the novel will be obvious to many readers from the beginning. And this predictability will likely take readers out of the story.