A Catalog of Birds

Laura Harrington

Jul 2017 · Europa Editions

About this ebook

This novel of a wounded Vietnam veteran’s homecoming is both “a searing war story and a page-turning thriller” (The Washington Post).

Billy Flynn has always wanted to fly, like the birds he draws with pencils and paints. He is also a patriot, so in 1970 he cannot resist the call to serve in Vietnam. A year later, he is the only one to survive after his helicopter is shot down.

A wounded Billy returns home to his family in upstate New York, including Nell, his adoring younger sister. In his absence, the woman he loves has mysteriously disappeared. His wounds have crippled his ability to hold a pencil and his hearing loss has cut him off from the natural world he loves so much. Nell, a brilliant student headed for a career in science, is determined to do all that’s possible to save him.

A Catalog of Birds is the story of a community confronted with shattered innocence and with wounds that may never heal, in “a beautiful book about family, loss, and love [whose] memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down” (Claire Messud, New York Times–bestselling author of The Woman Upstairs).

“Stunning natural descriptions provide a rich backdrop for Harrington’s beautifully articulated coming-of-age story, which captures the pain of loved ones grappling with the after effects of war.” —Booklist (starred review)

Ratings and reviews

This is an excellent novel, one that grabs you from the get-go and never lets up the tension. It is certainly an all-nighter - I never found a stopping place. I am certainly looking for more from Laura Harrington. Set in the spring of 1970, Billy Flynn has major burns and broken bones after his chopper went down in Vietnam. He lost his whole crew, dear friends, and the injured they were transporting to base. After months in the Army hospital. in Japan, he is sent to a military hospital near his home for rehab and more surgeries to remove shrapnel and repair bones trying to mend crooked. His girl is missing, has been for months. His extended family members are all there for him - many are still living at the family home in upstate New York, and home is where his heart really is. He has the church, the locals, his dog as well. The finger lakes, the woods, the birds. But his right hand and arm, his drawing hand, are badly burned, and getting back the use of that hand is doubtful. Using his left is about his only option, so he is trying but it's really hard, even just to write. His art may well be a thing of the past. The future, as he once imagined it, is no more. Between the tinnitus and the hearing loss he experienced in the wreck, his world is more restricted. His sister Nell, always his closest companion, does her best to keep his spirits up. And there are always the birds that he so loves, that he can identify from just a chirp or a flash of light between the trees. It is finally summer, and the lake has always been a second home to the Flynn siblings. Altogether, Billy is having a hard time feeling positive. Even with the help of Nell and his family. Someway, he must envision a new future, one he can accomplish despite his injuries. He must find a different happy ending to his story.

About the author

Laura Harrington is an award-winning playwright, lyricist, and librettist. She teaches playwriting at MIT and lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.