"I am about to tell you a story I don't yet understand. Wonder and Mystery will be among its main characters..."

How far do ripples travel after a pebble is dropped into a pond? And how profoundly can a simple message-even one that is vague and of questionable veracity-change the recipient and his community of family and friends?

When his family takes in an elderly and eccentric relative, ten-year-old Jesse Shea can only watch and cope with the disruption. But it isn't long before he has a series of experiences that lead him to question what is real and true, the essence of God, and how he should live in response. As Jesse grows up, his very search for answers shapes his life and the lives of those around him. It leads them all down a tree-lined path, bordered by the murky unknown, to a destination none of them could have anticipated.

Of Leaf, Wing, and Water, Stephen Diana's debut novel, explores knowing without understanding, faith and doubt, redemption, the natural world, and human connection. It is a story of belonging, and, in the end, a tale of the wounded and lost helping one another find their way back home.