When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky (2021) is the third book by Pulitzer Prize-nominated Cherokee author Margaret Verble. The novel follows a Cherokee performer named Two Feathers as she investigates the death of a young hippopotamus named Dinah alongside fellow employees at Nashville’s Glendale Park. Major themes in the novel include The Lasting Effects of Grief and Trauma, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in 1920s America, and Communication Between Human and Non-Human Beings.

This guide refers to the 2021 Mariner Books e-book edition.

Content Warning: The novel contains depictions of alcohol addiction and racism. The source text also uses outdated and offensive language to refer to Black and Indigenous Americans, which reflects the text’s historical setting.

Plot Summary

The Prologue establishes the summer of 1926 as a tumultuous time in United States history. The story begins with Two Feathers, a Cherokee horse jumper and the main act at Glendale Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Two was born and raised on the Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch, a working cattle ranch and Wild West show. Although she misses her family and the open spaces of Oklahoma, Two enjoys performing and feels like she has built a home with the other park workers, including the bison on display. When the park’s owner, Mr. Shackleford, wants to integrate new acts, he asks Two for advice based on her time at 101 Ranch.

Two receives and ignores two separate letters from a man named Strong-Red-Wolf—a man she correctly assumes is pretending to be Cherokee. Unbeknownst to Two, Strong-Red-Wolf, whose real name is Jack Older, has been stalking her for months. Jack grows more daring, even standing beneath Two’s platform while she jumps.

Conflicts brew among the workers at Glendale Park. Shackleford worries that his son, Lewis, is involved in shady business deals. Shackleford attempts to visit Clive Lovett, the park’s manager and zookeeper, whose mental and physical health are suffering. Upon Shackleford’s arrival, the newly sober Clive hides. Two’s friends, Franny and Marty Montgomery, express concern about a famous evangelist who has gone missing. Crawford, the stable groom, tells Two that his cousin, an insurance salesman, was brutally beaten while working in one of Nashville’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. Clive emerges to care for the park’s sick hippopotamus, Dinah.

One Sunday afternoon, as Two prepares to jump, a sinkhole opens beneath the pool, and Two and her horse, Ocher, disappear. Crawford realizes that one of the caves under the park has collapsed, and organizes a rescue effort with Shackleford, his family, and Clive. Clive digs a path to Two and helps secure her broken leg. While waiting for a stretcher, Clive sees a vision of his cousin, Millwood, who was killed during the Great War. After some debate, Two is taken to the white hospital. In the waiting room, Clive sees an old woman’s spirit comforting her.

The next day, Shackleford feels relieved to see Clive back at work. Clive and Crawford visit Two at the hospital. Worried her family can’t make the trip to Tennessee, she is determined to recover at Glendale. Clive secures permission for her to remain in her dormitory without paying. The next day, Crawford returns to the hospital with Jack to retrieve Two. Back at Glendale, Clive sees the ghost of a young Indigenous man (Little Elk) outside the women’s dormitory. He invites Mrs. Helen Hampton, the dormitory’s house mother, to see the appeal of the recent Scopes trial.

Struggling to recover without pain medicine, Two accepts Franny’s offer to smuggle her vodka. Two’s recovery is closely watched by the ghost of Little Elk, a young Cherokee warrior who was killed by white settlers. Clive and Jack visit Two at her dormitory. Two is charmed by Jack, and her boredom causes her to crave his company, especially after Crawford seems reluctant to spend time with her. That night, Crawford visits Bonita Boydstun, the wealthy girl he is pursuing. The couple share their first kiss.

Two tries the vodka and finds it does help her leg. The next day, Jack admits that he wrote her the letters under the name Strong-Red-Wolf. Two demands he stay away from her. Jack considers assaulting Two, but calms himself. Crawford has another date with Bonita, who considers marrying him. Bonita’s father catches the two in a sexual act and demands that Crawford leave Glendale and join his publishing company if he wants to see Bonita again. Jack seeks Clive’s advice about Two but ignores his suggestion to leave her alone. Disturbed by Jack’s behavior and missing her old life, Two grows more dependent on alcohol.

Clive and Helen attend the first day of the Scopes trial appeal in Nashville. Jack pays a boy to release a monkey in Two’s dormitory. When the boy is caught, he confesses to Jack’s plan. Jack is fired and leaves the park, smoking furiously. The ghost of Little Elk follows Jack, growing stronger as he inhales second-hand smoke, and scares him out of the park. Disturbed by Jack’s behavior and knowledge of the graves under Glendale, Two burns sacred plants to reclaim her sense of balance. She pours the rest of her vodka into the soil.

Clive and Helen attend the second day of the appeal. Meanwhile, Little Elk watches over Two and considers how to kill Jack. Two has a vision of Dinah the hippopotamus dead in her pen. Crawford gifts Two a pony-drawn cart, and she uses it to visit him, Dinah, and Adam the buffalo. Drawing strength from stolen tobacco, Little Elk howls at Two; she interprets it as a call from her Wolf Clan ancestors. As the summer progresses, Two spends more time visiting the Glendale park animals. Dinah dies suddenly, fulfilling Two’s vision. Desperate to make Two see him, Little Elk steals some of her tobacco.

Two theorizes that Dinah was electrocuted in her pond. After a date at the nearby Oriental Golf Club, Clive and Helen have their first sexual encounter. Two shares her theory about Dinah with Clive and Helen, who politely dismiss it. Reporter Edgar Maxwell interviews Two about the accident, and Jack sneaks into the bear enclosure and electrocutes the brown bear, Tom Noddy. Little Elk stabs Jack to death and then takes his scalp as a trophy to the bears. Security guards question Two (as the only Indigenous person working at Glendale) about the scalp. Mrs. Shackleford tells Clive to quietly dispose of the body if it is found.

Crawford finds Jack’s body near the bear’s cave, which he enters through the path used to rescue Two. Clive tells Two that he believes Little Elk killed Jack to protect her. Two suggests that they hide his body in the new turtle enclosure so that the turtles eat him. The next day, she searches unproductively for Little Elk. Maxwell returns to ask Two on a date, and the pair kiss on the way home. Maxwell briefly questions Two about a rumor that a scalp was found at the park, but is too charmed by her to pursue it.