Bird Life: A Novel
Anna Smaill
Jul 2024 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Eva Seymour
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9 hr 38 min
Unabridged
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In Ueno Park, Tokyo, as workers and tourists gather for lunch, the pollen blows, and two women meet, changing the course of one another's lives.
Dinah has come to Japan from New Zealand to teach English and grieve the death of her brother, Michael, a troubled genius who was able to channel his problems into music as a classical pianist—until he wasn't. In the seemingly empty, eerie apartment block where Dinah has been housed, she sees Michael everywhere, even as she feels his absence sharply.
Yasuko is polished, precise, and keenly observant—of her students and colleagues at the language school, and of the natural world. When she was thirteen, animals began to speak to her, to tell her things she did not always want to hear. She has suppressed these powers for many years, but sometimes she allows them to resurface, to the dismay of her adult son, Jun. One day, she returns home, and Jun has gone.
As these two women deal with their individual trauma, they form an unlikely friendship in which each will help the other to see a different possible world, as Smaill teases out the tension between our internal and external lives and asks what we lose by having to choose between them.
Dinah has come to Japan from New Zealand to teach English and grieve the death of her brother, Michael, a troubled genius who was able to channel his problems into music as a classical pianist—until he wasn't. In the seemingly empty, eerie apartment block where Dinah has been housed, she sees Michael everywhere, even as she feels his absence sharply.
Yasuko is polished, precise, and keenly observant—of her students and colleagues at the language school, and of the natural world. When she was thirteen, animals began to speak to her, to tell her things she did not always want to hear. She has suppressed these powers for many years, but sometimes she allows them to resurface, to the dismay of her adult son, Jun. One day, she returns home, and Jun has gone.
As these two women deal with their individual trauma, they form an unlikely friendship in which each will help the other to see a different possible world, as Smaill teases out the tension between our internal and external lives and asks what we lose by having to choose between them.
In Ueno Park, Tokyo, as workers and tourists gather for lunch, the pollen blows, and two women meet, changing the course of one another's lives.
Dinah has come to Japan from New Zealand to teach English and grieve the death of her brother, Michael, a troubled genius who was able to channel his...
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About the author
Anna Smaill was born in Auckland in 1979. She attended Canterbury University to study writing. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Auckland and an MA in Creative Writing from the Internatipnal Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. Her first book of poetry, The Violinist in Spring was published in 2005 and was listed as one of the Best Books of 2006 by the New Zealand Listener. The Chimes is her debut novel and it made The New Zealand Best Seller List. The Chimes also won the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. She was also named an Honorary Literary Fellows in the New Zealand Society of Authors' annual Waitangi Day Honours 2016.
Anna Smaill was born in Auckland in 1979. She attended Canterbury University to study writing. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Auckland and an MA in Creative Writing from the Internatipnal Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. Her first boo...
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