Overview

A masterful exploration of the rich and hidden facets of human character, as illuminated by the mysterious connections among the residents of a senior residence in MontanaAt the deteriorating Pheasant Run, the occupants keep their secrets and sadnesses locked tight behind closed apartment doors. Kind Leo Umberti, formerly an insurance agent, now quietly spends his days painting abstract landscapes and mourning a long-ago loss. Down the hall, retired professor Rydell Clovis tries desperately to stay fit enough to restart a career in academia. Cassie McMackin, on the same floor, has seemingly lost everything―her husband and only child dead within months of each other―leaving her loosely tethered to this world. And a few doors away, her friend, Viola Six, is convinced of a criminal conspiracy involving the building's widely disliked manager, Herbie Bonebright. Cassie and Viola dream of leaving their unhappy lives behind, but one woman's plan is interrupted―and the other's unexpectedly set into motion―when a fire breaks out in Herbie's apartment.Called to investigate is the city's chief fire inspector. With a gift and a passion for sorting out the mysteries of flame, Lander Maki finds the fire itself, and the circumstances around it, highly suspicious. Viola has disappeared. So has Herbie. And a troubled teen, Clayton Spooner, was glimpsed fleeing the scene. In trying to fit together the pieces of this complicated puzzle, Lander finds himself learning more than expected about human nature and about personal and corporate greed as it is visited upon the vulnerable.Beautifully written and long awaited, from a writer with extraordinary emotional acuity and with a keen sense of the small detail that says it all (Chicago Tribune), Aviary weaves a compelling tapestry of crisis, grief, and the mysteries of memory and old age.

Full Product Details

9781665188319

Table of Contents

Reviews

McNamer brings great care to describing her main characters as they gain a renewed purpose for living. -- Publishers Weekly The residents at Pheasant Run are acutely aware of the world's indifference to them. They no longer work. Their great love affairs are behind them. Why should they fight back? But by the end of this underdog novel, Ms. McNamer has developed poignant reasons that they do. -- Wall Street Journal This quietly important book offers hope as it tackles grief and isolation and our essential humanity. -- New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Deirdre McNamer is the author of several novels, including Red Rover, which won the Montana Book Award and was named a best book of the year by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Artforum. Her essays, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in the New Yorker, Ploughshares, the New York Times, and Outside, among other venues. She has served as a chairperson of National Book Awards and as a judge for the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award. She has taught writing at Cornell University, Williams College, the University of Ohio, the University of Oregon, the University of Alabama, the University of Montana, and the Bennington Writing Seminars, where she currently holds a faculty position. Christina Delaine is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator and accomplished stage actress. Her theater credits include Jewtopia, the longest-running comedy in Off-Broadway history, and the title role in Antigone at both Portland Center Stage and Kentucky Repertory Theatre. She holds a BA degree from Dartmouth College and an MFA in acting from Brown University.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available