The braid is from a physical altercation Beth had with their mother – their mother took a pair of scissors and violently cut off Beth’s hair. The story unfolds as the significance of each of these objects is revealed. Though the objects are ordinary – a few hair combs, a newspaper ad for secretarial school, an address, a necklace, a pair of ballet slippers, a blonde braid – they are also clues that help explain Beth's transformation from a quiet, peaceful young girl into a reckless and rebellious teenager. Jenny and her friend, Angela, are searching through Jenny's mother's closet for a forbidden box that holds mementos from Beth's life. The novel follows the slow demise of Beth Day and Jenny's investigation into the reasons behind her sister's sudden transformation and death. Though the book is told by both narrators, the reader quickly discovers that one of the narrators, older sister Beth, is dead, and it is only the younger sister, ten-year-old Jennifer, or Jenny, who lives on.

The book features two main protagonists, sisters Jennifer and Beth. The book is set in the small mining town of “Nowheresville,” Queensland in Foxlee's native Australia, in the early 1980s.

The Anatomy of Wings is a young adult novel for teen readers by Karen Foxlee, an Australian author of four novels for young adults.

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