The Evening Chorus - Hardcover

Humphreys, Helen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1443415480 ISBN 13: 9781443415484

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015

Synopsis

THE BRILLIANT NEW NOVEL ABOUT LOVE, WAR, AND THE WAYS OF ESCAPE

Resigned to living out the Second World War in a German POW camp, James Hunter, an English officer, begins studying a pair of redstarts near the camp. His interest in the birds captures the attention of the Kommandant and gives James cause to fear for his life. Meanwhile, back in England, James's young wife, Rose, falls headlong into a passionate affair with another man. When James's sister, Enid, is bombed out of her London flat, she comes to stay with Rose, and the two women form a surprising friendship that alters the course of both of their lives.

With wonderfully developed characters, exquisitely shaped by and reflected in the natural world, The Evening Chorus is a brilliant, beautiful evocation of place and a natural history of both the war and the human heart.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Amid the chaos of World War II, three lives reveal a natural history of war and the human heart

“The Evening Chorus serenades people brutally marked by war, yet enduring to live — and relish — the tiny pleasures of another day. With her trademark prose — exquisitely limpid — Humphreys convinces us of the birdlike strength of the powerless.” — Emma Donoghue

Downed during his first mission, James Hunter is taken captive as a German POW. To bide the time, he studies a nest of redstarts at the edge of camp. Some prisoners plot escape; some are shot. And then, one day, James is called to the Kommandant’s office.

Meanwhile, back home, James’s new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James’s sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war’s privations and discover confinements that come with peace. The Evening Chorus is a beautiful, astonishing examination of love, loss, escape, and the ways in which the intrusions of the natural world can save us.

“The Evening Chorus sparkles.” — Jo Baker

“A poised, lyrical novel about the griefs of war, written with poetic intensity of observation.” — Helen Dunmore

“This riveting novel is a song. Listen.” — Richard Bausch

HELEN HUMPHREYS is the author of seven novels, four books of poetry, and two works of nonfiction, including several New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She has received the Lambda Prize for fiction, among other awards.

www.hhumphreys.com

Author photograph © Ayelet Tsabari

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About the Author:

HELEN HUMPHREYS’s most recent novel, The Evening Chorus, was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award and was a national bestseller. Her critically acclaimed memoir, Nocturne, was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. Previous novels include Coventry, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year and a finalist for the Trillium Book Award; Afterimage, which won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; Leaving Earth, which won the Toronto Book Award; and The Lost Garden, which was a Canada Reads selection. The recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize for literary excellence, Humphreys lives in Kingston, Ontario.

 

 

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1443415480
• ISBN 13: 9781443415484
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304