This is an outstanding book with interesting multi-dimensional characters that I came to care about so much that the book brought me close to tears many times. It was very moving and felt so real. The old growth forest also became a living character in the book, as the author brought it very much to life and made us care what happened to it, without being preachy or one-sided.

The book's main character, Faye, is a research biologist who works high in the rain forest canopy looking for tiny life forms that are newly discovered and don't live anywhere else. She also happens to be a dwarf, with all of the hardships and prejudice that growing up as a "little person" entails, and a big chip on her shoulder to boot. While doing research with her assistant in a protected park in British Columbia on Vancouver Island, a ragtag bunch of logging protesters arrive and disrupt their life. Faye comes to realize she can't trust the logging company as much as she thought. Tragedy ensues and Faye's life is forever changed.

Read this book for the moving human drama, the real characters, and the multitude of information about the value of old growth forests and the tragedy of clear-cutting to the animals that live there, and to the world and ultimately to all of us. Truly unforgettable. ( )