And the Birds Fled to the Bush - Couverture souple

Innes, Helen Mae

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1738592677 ISBN 13 : 9781738592678

Editeur : Piwaiwaka Press, 2024

Synopsis

The leaves of the books are birds. The tightly scrunched ponytails of the girls are birds. The dreadlocks of their pothead boyfriends are birds. The doilies on the windowsills are birds. The Dominion Post held by an old man becomes a flock of birds and starts to fly away. The prescriptions for the sickness beneficiaries are birds caught in the down draft. The white paper bags that held raspberry cream donuts are birds. The receipts for reconditioned tyres are birds. The posters for a d-dub concert are birds. The Jackson's Café and Burger Bar wrappers, the Dolla $ave plastic bags, the Awaawa Library Teen-Zone fliers are birds.

The valley's calm, quiet, waiting. Mrs Henderson thinks it's earthquake weather but she doesn't say anything, doesn't want to make a fuss. It's probably nothing. No one else notices it's quiet, too quiet, until everyone does at the same moment, like at a party when everything goes silent and no one wants to be the first to speak.

All the birds take flight at the sound of Mike's motorbike backfiring. They lift, for a moment, suspended.

Everyone turns and stares.

Will they fly?

Will they soar?

Will they scatter? Like confetti? Like polystyrene beans from a burst beanbag?

Or will they all move together as one?

A rising, folding, sweeping, blossoming, murmuration?

All the birds are airborne,

and the whole valley

holds

its

breath.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Helen is a writer of fiction and non-fiction who usually lives in a house in Naenae, sometimes on a boat in Seaview, and hardly ever but with great enthusiasm in a yurt in Wainuiomata. She studied linguistics and psychology at Victoria University, then taught English as a second language for 20 years in Ireland, England, Japan, China, and New Zealand. She has written three books and works as an editor and writing teacher.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Piwaiwaka Press
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1738592677
• ISBN 13: 9781738592678
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 226
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible